"Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) glasses play an important role in
various technology, including dye sensitized solar cells. One of the most
commonly used glass is indium tin oxide (ITO) glass, which is expensive.
Therefore, the main
purpose of this research was to determine if ITO glass can be replaced with
fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass,
which is easier and more economic to manufacture. For this purpose, a tin
chloride dehydrate (SnCl2.2H2O)
precursor was doped with ammonium
fluoride (NH4F) using a
sol-gel method and spray pyrolysis technique to
investigate the fabrication process for conductive
glass. NH4F was
doped at a ratio of 2 wt% in the SnCl2.2H2O precursor at
varying deposition times (10, 20, and 30 minutes) and substrate temperatures
(250, 300, and 350°C). The
results revealed that longer deposition times created thicker glass layers with
reduced electrical resistivity. The highest optical
transmittance was 75.5% and the lowest resistivity
was 3.32´10-5 Ω.cm,
obtained from FTO glass
subjected to a 20-minute deposition time at deposition temperature of 300oC."