Hello Hammad,
You can use a photoresist that is resistant to acid, tape, or even stickers that are resistant to the etching solution. Once you have placed your chosen method of masking down in the areas you don't want to be etched you have to coat the surface of the substrate in zinc powder, once this is done hydrochloric acid (2M) needs to be added until covering the surface. Once the reaction is finished clear away the remaining HCl and zinc powder and remove the etch resistant mask you have chosen. There is a very handy guide and video in the link I have provided below on how to etch FTO substrates using etch resistant stickers.
https://www.ossila.com/products/fto-glass-unpatterned#FTO-Glass-Etch
You can get the similar or apropriate answer by searching the keyword in the GOOGLE SCHOLAR page. Usually you will get the first paper similar to your keyword.
From my experience, this way will help you a lot. If you still have a problem, do not hasitate to let me know.
Kind regards, Dr ZOL BAHRI - Universiti Malaysia Perlis, MALAYSIA
Spread some powder onto the subtrate uniformly, add some hcl drops and let bubble for a while until fto is dissolved
I have done much about this. Typically, zinc powder was dispered in water and then coated to FTO which will be etched. Then the sample was immersed into 1 mol/L HCl solution for 5-15 min or more. Details can be found in one of my recent publications and a picture of the etched FTO pattern can be seen in the Supporting Information. (Title: Organohalide lead perovskite based photodetectors with much enhanced performance) Hope that will help you.
Article Organohalide Lead Perovskite Based Photodetectors with Much ...
Thanks Xia and Briones it was helpful, i will try it now and see how it goes.
Hi,
an easy and low-cost method to pattern your substrates is to cover the region where the FTO should not be removed with adhesive tape (which is often resistant against acid). Another possibility is to use nail polish instead of adhesive tape. After etching, the nail polish can be removed with common solvents like acetone.
Hello everyone,
Is patterned FTO is necessary for fabricating perovskite solar cells?
Thank you
Unless you are performing all the steps of fabrication to characterizing in a nitrogen glove box, yes it is necessary to make electrical contacts
i was wondering if there is any particular area which needs to be etched or is it at ones own discretion?
I would guess it will be on one's own discretion based on the desired pattern.
Hi,
But, if we evaporate/sputter the top contact at the end after all the perovskite and Hole-Transport-Layer (HTL), why do we still etch the FTO?
We etch to have both cathode and anode electrodes on same electrode, if we do not etch you will end up having the short circuited device....
Thanks for the answer,
But, I don't understand what you mean by having cathode and anode on the same electrode. It is a sandwich-like device, where the anode (patterned) is on top and the cathode is the FTO at the bottom.
Can you elaborate more please?
It is sandwich but among layers not like two separate glass electrodes as in dye sensitized solar cell. So if your FTO cathode directly touches the PATTERNED anode it will be short.
Hello Hammad,
You can use a photoresist that is resistant to acid, tape, or even stickers that are resistant to the etching solution. Once you have placed your chosen method of masking down in the areas you don't want to be etched you have to coat the surface of the substrate in zinc powder, once this is done hydrochloric acid (2M) needs to be added until covering the surface. Once the reaction is finished clear away the remaining HCl and zinc powder and remove the etch resistant mask you have chosen. There is a very handy guide and video in the link I have provided below on how to etch FTO substrates using etch resistant stickers.
https://www.ossila.com/products/fto-glass-unpatterned#FTO-Glass-Etch
Hammad Cheema,
I understand the Abdelrahman Askar question. If one use a suitable mask to evaporate the gold (or other back contact material) on top of the hole conducting material, one can easily avoid that the evaporated back contact touch any other layer. Looking just for the back contact problem i can accept that is good to do a etching just because its more safe in order to avoid some short circuit that can came from the presence of pinholes in the hole conducting film... In a ideal sandwich and with a proper way for do the eletrical measurements, without damaging the film, i dont see a reason for the eathing.
The problem is that we are depositing several layers, one on top of other, and is dificult to assure that on the edges the top layers dont touch the FTO... I think it´s because of that we realy need to pattern the FTO .
Hi all,
Thank you for this discussion, very helpful.
What my doubt is that etching out the FTO with HCl will remove that part of other coated layers also. And what remains is the bare glass substrate. When Au/Ag will be one contact, how can glass be the other contact? Isn't it necessary to have a conducting contact?.
can I use granular zinc instead of powdered zinc to etch FTO glass?
- Badges
- Science topic