Indium-free transparent conductive oxides for glass and plastic Substrates
Acronym: INFINITY
Funding body: European Commission
Status: Project
The INFINITY project, “Indium-free transparent conductive coating oxides for glass and plastic substrates”, is focused on the development of novel inks for transparent conductive thin coatings that are used in a variety of optoelectronic devices including flat panel displays, photovoltaic cells, etc. Nowadays, indium tin oxide (ITO) is the most commonly used material for these applications, however indium is a scarce and expensive element. Therefore the main objective of INFINITY project is to develop alternative indium-free oxide coatings with similar electrical conductivity and high transmission as ITO coatings, to deposit these coatings and patterns by a direct, cost-effective printing process.
Concretely, the INFINITY project will develop inks with nanoparticles of two novel chemical compositions: doped zinc oxide and doped titanium dioxide. The nanoparticles will be synthesised by an innovative sol-gel method, employing specifically formulated precursors. Then, the developed inks will be modified and adapted to novel printing techniques as gravure and ink-jet printing to enable direct writing of multi-layers and patterns, avoiding the waste associated with existing etch patterning processes. A novel laser-based approach will be used for low-temperature sintering of the printed conductive coatings, thereby allowing for not only glass but also plastic substrates to be used. This will allow for a wider variety of end-user applications, ranging from displays to solar panels to organic photovoltaics and energy harvesting by smart windows.
The INFINITY project is a 3 year research project that brings together European experts from all aspects of the fabrication supply chain. For more information please see the project website: infinity-h2020.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641927.