Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.413, 31-36, 2015
Controlled synthesis of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanowires
Because of their high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity, ITO nanowires have been used in solar cells, diodes, and sensors. Synthesizing ITO nanowires reliably with controllable and reproducible structures and morphologies is desirable for many applications. However, the dependence of ITO nanowire structure and morphology on growth conditions has yet to be investigated systematically. In this work, experimental conditions including catalyst diameter, growth time, temperature, and oxygen partial pressure are varied to determine their impact on the diameter, length, and microstructure of synthesized nanowires. The diameters of the nanowires depend on the diameter of Au catalysts, however, not as directly as other studies have observed. Nanowire diameters of 99 nm were obtained when using 14 nm Au nanoclusters compared to 366 nm when using 321 nm Au nanoclusters. Nanowire length and diameters are independent of O-2 partial pressure. However, the O-2 partial pressure had to remain below 3.23 mTorr for successful nanowire growth. The optimal temperature for nanowire growth was 750 degrees C. (C) 2014 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.