Fabrication of nanoporous doped metal oxide coatings via selective infiltration of a block copolymer template: The case of Al-doped zinc oxide

IF 5.3 2区材料科学 Q1 MATERIALS SCIENCE, COATINGS & FILMS

Surface & Coatings Technology Pub Date : 2025-06-19 DOI:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132418

Vasanta Gurung , Khalil D. Omotosho , Oluwatosin Obe , Elena Shevchenko , Diana Berman

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Abstract

Conductive nanoporous conformal coatings are important for various applications including touchscreens, displays, and electrochromic windows, though design of such coating with controlled porosity and composition remains challenging. We propose a sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) method for the fabrication of nanoporous conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films by infiltrating block copolymer (BCP) templates, specifically polystyrene-block-polyvinyl pyridine (PS-b-P4VP), with diethyl zinc and trimethyl aluminum precursors. Tunability of both porosity and electrical conductivity is achieved by precisely controlling the swelling behavior of the polymer templates and adjusting the number of SIS cycles. Our results reveal that porosity levels can reach up to 80 %, with resistivity as low as ~7.83 Ωcm. Using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) and Hall effect measurements, we show that lower concentrations of aluminum doping relative to zinc (around 1: 17) results in higher conductivity of the AZO films. Additionally, AZO is based on zinc oxide (ZnO) which is cost-efficient, abundant and less toxic than commonly used transparent conductive oxides such as indium tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). Therefore, this novel approach opens new possibilities for creating highly porous, conformal, conductive AZO coatings with customizable porosity and composition, making them ideal candidates for diverse optoelectronic applications.

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通过选择性渗透嵌段共聚物模板制备纳米多孔掺杂金属氧化物涂层：以掺铝氧化锌为例

导电纳米多孔保形涂层对于包括触摸屏、显示器和电致变色窗口在内的各种应用都很重要，尽管这种具有可控孔隙率和成分的涂层的设计仍然具有挑战性。我们提出了一种序贯渗透合成（SIS）方法，通过渗透嵌段共聚物（BCP）模板，特别是聚苯乙烯-嵌段-聚乙烯吡啶（PS-b-P4VP），以二乙基锌和三甲基铝为前驱体，制备纳米多孔导电铝掺杂氧化锌（AZO）薄膜。通过精确控制聚合物模板的膨胀行为和调整SIS循环次数，可以实现孔隙率和导电性的可调性。结果表明，孔隙度可达80%，电阻率低至~7.83 Ωcm。通过导电原子力显微镜（C-AFM）和霍尔效应测量，我们发现相对于锌（约1:17），较低浓度的铝掺杂导致AZO膜的导电性更高。此外，AZO以氧化锌（ZnO）为基础，与常用的透明导电氧化物（如氧化铟锡（ITO）和掺氟氧化锡（FTO））相比，氧化锌具有成本效益、储量丰富且毒性更小。因此，这种新颖的方法为创造具有可定制孔隙率和成分的高多孔、保形、导电的AZO涂层开辟了新的可能性，使其成为各种光电应用的理想候选者。

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来源期刊

Surface & Coatings Technology 工程技术-材料科学：膜

CiteScore

10.00

自引率

11.10%

发文量

921

审稿时长

19 days

期刊介绍： Surface and Coatings Technology is an international archival journal publishing scientific papers on significant developments in surface and interface engineering to modify and improve the surface properties of materials for protection in demanding contact conditions or aggressive environments, or for enhanced functional performance. Contributions range from original scientific articles concerned with fundamental and applied aspects of research or direct applications of metallic, inorganic, organic and composite coatings, to invited reviews of current technology in specific areas. Papers submitted to this journal are expected to be in line with the following aspects in processes, and properties/performance: A. Processes: Physical and chemical vapour deposition techniques, thermal and plasma spraying, surface modification by directed energy techniques such as ion, electron and laser beams, thermo-chemical treatment, wet chemical and electrochemical processes such as plating, sol-gel coating, anodization, plasma electrolytic oxidation, etc., but excluding painting. B. Properties/performance: friction performance, wear resistance (e.g., abrasion, erosion, fretting, etc), corrosion and oxidation resistance, thermal protection, diffusion resistance, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, and properties relevant to smart materials behaviour and enhanced multifunctional performance for environmental, energy and medical applications, but excluding device aspects.