What advances have chemists made in finding a replacement for indium tin oxide?

Alternative materials investigated as ITO replacements have included graphene, carbon nanotubes and random metal nanowire films.

Why indium tin oxide is used in LCD?

The Indium tin oxide is a material used in modern devices that manipulates ambient light. ITO is a good material, because it has a good response time to conduct electricity and an appropriate transparency for the emission of light.

What is the function of the indium tin oxide?

Indium tin oxide is found in invisible antennae and thin-film solar cells. Indium tin oxide layers protect image sensors of high-quality digital cameras. Due to its transparency and electrical conductivity, ITO is used for coating non-conductive materials such as plastics to prevent electrostatic charging.

Are there alternatives to indium?

Graphene: Almost The Ideal Replacement for Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) Indium tin oxide is a transparent conducting material used in most of the world’s touchscreen applications. The ideal material would be cheap, transparent and highly conductive – a combination which has so far eluded most developers.

Can graphene replace Ito?

Rickard Arvidsson and colleagues at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now shown that replacing ITO with graphene may be beneficial because energy use during graphene production could be lower than that during ITO production. The substitution may, however, bring about other effects.

Where is indium tin oxide mined?

The reserves of indium are heavily concentrated in China, Canada, and Peru. The demand is high in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea — the leading manufacturers of electronic products. Further, the price volatility of indium affects the primary consumption of the element in the production of ITO.

How does ITO conduct?

ITO is not as conductive as metals, they do reflect light to, but this reflection only kicks in at longer wavelength (beyond visible light wavelength), therefore, they are transparent in the visible region.

What type of glass is used for LCD screen?

Gorilla Glass made by Corning, is widely used to protect smartphone, computer and tablet screens. Gorilla Glass is made of alkali-aluminosilicate material. The glass is firstly melted into a thin layer.

Why is ITO conductive?

The conductivity of the ITO is due to the electrons donated to the conduction band. Because of the high carrier density, the conductivity approaches the level of metallic conduction. With the high carrier density in the conduction band, it can extend from very long wavelengths up to about 2 micrometers.

Which metal has the largest work function?

The highest known metal work function is approximately 6.35 eV for platinum (Pt) and lowest work function is 2.14eV for cesium. Work function can be said as the minimum energy needed to move an electron from the Fermi level into vacuum.

Is indium tin oxide running out?

Well, it’s called indium tin oxide and according to some reports, it’s running out. A new article by New Scientist reporter James Mitchell Crow claims that the world’s reserves of indium may only last another decade. ITO, in turn, is one of the key materials for the production of touch and LED screens.

What kind of material is indium tin oxide?

Indium tin oxide is a transparent conducting material used in most of the world’s touchscreen applications. While it is fantastic material, it does have some limitations. Firstly, it is expensive, as indium is a scarce commodity.

Are there any other replacement materials for Ito?

While there is a window of opportunity for graphene, it is one that is beginning to narrow. There are plenty of other ITO replacement materials available, from silver nanowires to conductive polymers, and all are much closer to market than graphene.

What are some of the limitations of indium tin?

While it is fantastic material, it does have some limitations. Firstly, it is expensive, as indium is a scarce commodity. Secondly, it has limited flexibility before it begins to crack, and thirdly it requires deposition in vacuum by physical vapour deposition (PVD), which takes time.

What makes graphene the perfect replacement for Ito?

Graphene, a single layer of atoms thick, combines transparency with conductivity, making it an obvious choice for research into ITO replacement – it could even be considered the perfect material, at least in theory. There are three broad ways to get graphene into a form that would be useable in displays.