Hazy Al₂O₃-FTO Nanocomposites: A Comparative Study with FTO-Based Nanocomposites Integrating ZnO and S:TiO₂ Nanostructures

In this study, we report the use of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in combination with fluorine doped tin oxide (F:SnO₂, aka FTO) thin films to form hazy Al₂O₃-FTO nanocomposites. In comparison to previously reported FTO-based nanocomposites integrating ZnO and sulfur doped TiO₂ (S:TiO₂) nanoparticles (i.e., Z...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2018-06, Vol.8 (6), p.440
Main Authors: Zhang, Shan-Ting, Vitrant, Guy, Pernot, Etienne, Jiménez, Carmen, Muñoz-Rojas, David, Bellet, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agglomerates
Agglomeration
Al2O3
Aluminum oxide
Comparative studies
Computer simulation
Electrodes
Engineering Sciences
Fluorine
FTO
Glass substrates
Haze
haze factor
Materials
Morphology
nanocomposite
Nanocomposites
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
optical scattering
Optics
Photonic
Photovoltaic cells
Scanning electron microscopy
Sulfur
TCO
Thin films
Tin
Tin dioxide
Tin oxide
Tin oxides
Titanium dioxide
Zinc oxide
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Summary:In this study, we report the use of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in combination with fluorine doped tin oxide (F:SnO₂, aka FTO) thin films to form hazy Al₂O₃-FTO nanocomposites. In comparison to previously reported FTO-based nanocomposites integrating ZnO and sulfur doped TiO₂ (S:TiO₂) nanoparticles (i.e., ZnO-FTO and S:TiO₂-FTO nanocomposites), the newly developed Al₂O₃-FTO nanocomposites show medium haze factor H of about 30%, while they exhibit the least loss in total transmittance T In addition, Al₂O₃-FTO nanocomposites present a low fraction of large-sized nanoparticle agglomerates with equivalent radius r > 1 μm; effectively 90% of the nanoparticle agglomerates show r < 750 nm. The smaller feature size in Al₂O₃-FTO nanocomposites, as compared to ZnO-FTO and S:TiO₂-FTO nanocomposites, makes them more suitable for applications that are sensitive to roughness and large-sized features. With the help of a simple optical model developed in this work, we have simulated the optical scattering by a single nanoparticle agglomerate characterized by bottom radius r₀, top radius r₁, and height h. It is found that r₀ is the main factor affecting the H (λ), which indicates that the haze factor of Al₂O₃-FTO and related FTO nanocomposites is mainly determined by the total surface coverage of all the nanoparticle agglomerates present.
ISSN:2079-4991
2079-4991
DOI:10.3390/nano8060440