Transparent conducting coatings made by chemical nanotechnology processes

Colloidal solutions containing fully redispersed crystalline In2O3: Sn (ITO) nanoparticles with an average size up to 30 nm and adequate organic binders (e.g. hydrolysable silanes) offer new possibilities to coat substrates with a transparent or antiglare conducting layer by different wet chemical coating techniques. The layers can be fully processed by UV light irradiation at low temperature (< 130 °C). The process allows to coat any types of transparent substrates which cannot withstand high temperature such as plastics ( tested with PC, PE, PMMA, PVC) and preformed glass substrates. The resistivity of these coatings is 5 x 10(-2) Ω cm and comparable to that of commercial organic conducting polymers. Sheet resistance as low as 800 Ω(□) and transparency in the visible range higher than 85% have been obtained for 600 nm thick single layers. The mechanical properties of these coatings is also reported. The coatings can be easily patterned at room temperature by soft photolithography technique.