Highly Conductive Sb–SnO₂ Nanocrystals Synthesized by Dual Nonthermal Plasmas

Nonthermal plasma synthesis of transparent conducting oxide nanocrystals can offer advantages, for example, ligand-free surfaces, over traditionally used colloidal synthesis methods. When it comes to multicomponent (doped) metal oxide nanocrystal synthesis, uniform distribution of different metal elements and suppressing surface segregation of secondary resistive phases have been concerns. Specifically, surface segregation of resistive secondary phases reduces the electrical conductivity of nanocrystal assemblies. In this work, we demonstrate a nonthermal dual-plasma synthesis method capable of forming Sb–SnO2 (ATO) nanocrystals with a uniform composition distribution and apparently insignificant surface segregation of the dopant. A drastic increase in conductivity was observed in ATO thin films comprised of nanocrystals formed using a dual-plasma configuration compared to nanocrystals formed using a single-plasma configuration. The conductivity values of as-deposited porous films comprised of ATO nanocrystals, prepared using the dual-plasma approach, were on the order of 0.1 S cm–1, which to our knowledge is the highest conductivity reported to-date for that type of high surface area material. Annealing the films comprised of ATO nanocrystals at 500 °C for 2 h in air increased the conductivity and improved ambient stability, without significantly affecting the crystallite size.