Photopatternable transparent conducting oxide nanoparticles for transparent electrodes

We report a method to fabricate tailored transparent electrodes using photopatternable transparent conducting oxide nanoparticles (TCO NPs). We demonstrate solution-processed micropatterns by a conventional photolithography technique. We have synthesized indium tin oxide (ITO) NPs and functionalized them with a photolabile group, such as t-butoxycarbonyl (t-BOC), which can be deprotected by a chemical amplification reaction in the solid state film. The chemical amplification reaction leads to a shortening of the ligand that changes the solubility of the resulting ITO films. This ligand shortening process also contributes to a reduction of the sheet resistance in the resulting photopatterned ITO films. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the general viability and strength of this approach by also photopatterning zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs.