Transparent Conducting Films of Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide with Uniform Mesostructure Assembled from Preformed Nanocrystals

摘要

Transparent conducting films of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) with a uniform 3D-mesostructure are prepared by self-assembly of crystalline ATO nanoparticles with various antimony content directed by commercially available Pluronic copolymers. The mesostructure of the films calcined at 300 - 500 °C exhibits periodicity of 14 nm, surface area of 200 - 300 m~2/cm~3 and a well-developed accessible porosity of 45 - 55 %. The high crystallinity of the nanoparticles serving as building blocks enables to obtain the fully crystalline inorganic frameworks with sufficient electric conductivity already at temperatures as low as 300 °C. Ferrocene molecules covalently immobilized in the conducting mesoporous matrix show significantly enhanced electrochemical response proportional to the electrode surface area. The high electric conductivity and the uniform accessible mesoporosity combined with a simple and generally applicable preparation procedure make the developed ATO films attractive as the nanostructured transparent electrodes for various optoelectronic applications.