Improvement of Transparent Conducting Performance on Oxygen-Activated Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Electrodes Formed by Horizontal Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis Deposition

Abstract

In this study, highly transparent conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrodes were fabricated using the horizontal ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition. In order to improve their transparent conducting performances, we carried out oxygen activation by adjusting the ratio of O2/(O2+N2) in the carrier gas (0%, 20%, and 50%) used during the deposition process. The oxygen activation on the FTO electrodes accelerated the substitution concentration of F (FO •) into the oxygen sites in the FTO electrode while the oxygen vacancy (VO • •) concentration was reduced. In addition, due to growth of pyramid-shaped crystallites with (200) preferred orientations, this oxygen activation caused the formation of a uniform surface structure. As a result, compared to others, the FTO electrode prepared at 50% O2 showed excellent electrical and optical properties (sheet resistance of ∼4.0 ± 0.14 Ω/□, optical transmittance of ∼85.3%, and figure of merit of ∼5.09 ± 0.19 × 10–2 Ω–1). This led to a superb photoconversion efficiency (∼7.03 ± 0.20%) as a result of the improved short-circuit current density. The photovoltaic performance improvement can be defined by the decreased sheet resistance of FTO used as a transparent conducting electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which is due to the combined effect of the high carrier concentration by the improved FO • concentration on the FTO electrodes and the fasted Hall mobility by the formation of a uniform FTO surface structure and distortion relaxation on the FTO lattices resulting from the reduced VO • • • concentration.

Radio-frequency and optically transparent radome de-icing materials: fluorine-doped tin oxide

“…For example, Koo et al reported that the effect of the carrier gas ratio on the FTO lms, which shows the highest gure of merit at a resistivity of 2.31 Â 10 À4 U cm and optical transmission of 85.3%. 7 Obaida et al reported on the effect of the 20% uorine doping concentration, which makes the FTO lm with a resistivity of 2.19 Â 10 À5 U cm and optical transmission of about 60.0%. Bilgin et al also reported that 3 at% uorine doping is the most promising with electrical conductivity 2.81 Â 10 À1 (U cm) À1 .…”

Assembly of high-nuclearity Sn26, Sn34-oxo clusters: solvent strategies and inorganic Sn incorporation

“…Tin oxide (SnO 2 ) has attracted increasing research attention due to its application in a variety of areas, including gas sensors,1 catalysis,2,3 lithium batteries,4,5 solar cells6,7 and transparent electrodes 8. Some important factors, such as the size, composition, and structure, greatly influence the electronic and physicochemical properties of SnO 2 9–11.…”

Introduction of a Novel Figure of Merit for the Assessment of Transparent Conductive Electrodes in Photovoltaics: Exact and Approximate Form

“…For the DSSC PV system, FTO is the most widely used electrode because of its good stability at high temperatures and under acidic conditions. [ 40 ] In this work, an FTO fabricated by using horizontal ultrasonic spray pyrolysis deposition [ 40 ] was evaluated exemplarily.…”