title: Impact of preferential indium nucleation on electrical conductivity of vapor-liquid-solid grown indium-tin oxide nanowires.
abstract: Highly conductive and transparent indium-tin oxide (ITO) single-crystalline nanowires, formed by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method, hold great promise for various nanoscale device applications. However, increasing an electrical conductivity of VLS grown ITO nanowires is still a challenging issue due to the intrinsic difficulty in controlling complex material transports of the VLS process. Here, we demonstrate a crucial role of preferential indium nucleation on the electrical conductivity of VLS grown ITO nanowires using gold catalysts. In spite of the fact that the vapor pressure of tin is lower than that of indium, we found that the indium concentration within the nanowires was always higher than the nominal composition. The VLS growth of ITO through gold catalysts significantly differs from ITO film formations due to the emergence of preferential indium nucleation only at a liquid-solid interface. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the averaged resistivity of ITO nanowires can be decreased down to 2.1 × 10(-4) Ω cm, which is the lowest compared with values previously reported, via intentionally increasing the tin concentration within the nanowires.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanagida
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Hideto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: Annop
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klamchuen
authors.forename: Fuwei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhuge
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Sakon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahong
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Tomoji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawai