I think that the answer will depend on your experiment. For many experiments it may not matter, but for some it could be a problem. It also probably depends on the details of what you mean by distilled water. For example, how it is stored.

Deionized water typically has gone through some sort or ion exchanger resin to remove ions like iron, copper or sodium that may have come from the pipes or environment. Using a conductivity meter, if the resistance is very high 15-18 Megaohm- cm it is considered deionized. (if the container is open to air, the conductivity will increase as carbon dioxide is dissolved into the water)

Distilled water can also have a very low conductivity, with ions removed by the distillation process. However, other substances can still make it through the distillation process, i.e. can evaporate and re-condense including things like ammonia or some organic compounds. Or if the distillation is done improperly there can be carryover of droplets that still contain ions. So sometimes you will see double or triple distilled water.

So the short answer is that it depends on your experiment, and also how the water is stored and handled. If for example you want to make a transparent transistor where sodium ions could be a mobile traps maybe there could be a problem, or if your experiment depends on the surface being hydrophobic or hydrophilic or the state of the surface in detail it could be an issues it might be something you care about. Other experiments it may not matter.

I think that the answer will depend on your experiment. For many experiments it may not matter, but for some it could be a problem. It also probably depends on the details of what you mean by distilled water. For example, how it is stored.

Deionized water typically has gone through some sort or ion exchanger resin to remove ions like iron, copper or sodium that may have come from the pipes or environment. Using a conductivity meter, if the resistance is very high 15-18 Megaohm- cm it is considered deionized. (if the container is open to air, the conductivity will increase as carbon dioxide is dissolved into the water)

Distilled water can also have a very low conductivity, with ions removed by the distillation process. However, other substances can still make it through the distillation process, i.e. can evaporate and re-condense including things like ammonia or some organic compounds. Or if the distillation is done improperly there can be carryover of droplets that still contain ions. So sometimes you will see double or triple distilled water.

So the short answer is that it depends on your experiment, and also how the water is stored and handled. If for example you want to make a transparent transistor where sodium ions could be a mobile traps maybe there could be a problem, or if your experiment depends on the surface being hydrophobic or hydrophilic or the state of the surface in detail it could be an issues it might be something you care about. Other experiments it may not matter.

Thanks John for the good explaination, the ITO/glass for an trans parent organic solar cell and the ITO (indium oxide surface) layer as a transparent electrode.

Hi Rafidah,

My suggestion will be to use deionized water since if you were to use the ITO as a transparent organic solar cell or as an electrode, ions may stick to your ITO surface and may cause your results to deviate from your expected values. However, having said that, you can perform a comparative study and include that in your investigation. At the end of your study, you can use that in your report and publish it so that we all can learn from it.

Perhaps with the careful employment of a plasma cleaner chamber depending on your particular needs. This technique is often employed in materials science to treat silica and glassy surfaces. Hope this help in your experimental set up.

There are lots of recipes for cleaning - here is a clean room recipe for cleaning ITO substrates:

https://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/experimentalsolidstate/public/Cleanroom/004_Cleaning%20ITO_200609.pdf

It is very similar to how I clean glass and metal prior to placing objects into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber.

The only difference is that after the acetone/ultrasonication, I like to do the final cleaning with methanol. If you stop with acetone there is some debris left behind on glass and metal. Others I've worked with to finish with deionized water, or IPA.

I agree with the above note on distilled water - unless it is tested, you don't know what is left behind. But it is fine for most applications, such as water in a chiller. But I wouldn't use it for fine cleaning.

Dear Rafidah Ahmad,

1. If you are asking this question, it probably doesn't matter - otherwise, somewhere in your lab would be a great sign "Deionized water only!".

2. Looking on your cleaning procedure: "acetone -> NaOH -> water", you already have a lot of ions from cleaning in NaOH.

3. Whatever water you use, take detailed notes about the source/shop. Repeatability of your results may vitally depend on it.

Btw, I am curious, why NaOH is used in your process. Is it for cleaning, or for some sort of activation of the surface? If it is the latter, deionized water may be damaging.

Dear Dr Segiusz Patela, thanks for the good input. The purpose of using NaOH because to remove a protective layer which coated on the pattern ITO/glass. The cleaning procedure as mention was suggested by supplier. For your info, our lab only provide distilled water. If there is not much impact i will use it.

Instead of the above cleaning, it is better to use DMF (N N Dimethyl Formamide) for cleaning. Clean it in DMF for 30 minutes in Ultrasonic bath. Dry it using N2 gas.

@ peter As i go thought all answer i put myself to think again for better cleaning method , DI water that we have in lab it's Resistivity is 0.25 to 0.56 mega ohm, Mostly i used frist DI water and then Acetone is it sufficient, What is need of DMF,and Isopropyl????

Cleaning Glass Substrates (with or without ITO coating)

Preclean glass slide with acetone using purity wipes (soft lint-free cloth).

Prepare an aqueous solution of 10% NaOH.

Heat proper amount of solution to 55° C (a 250 ml beaker is usually sufficient).

Place slides in NaOH for 3 minutes.

Rinse in deionized water for about I minute, and check that water sheets off slide right away.

Immediately wipe dry with a purity wipe to prevent water spots.

I got these answer Online , I never use these method to clean but i will try to clean..

I agree with Peter that there are various ways of cleaning glass substrates. We used a method depicted in our paper : Thin SolidFilms, 48 (1978) 1 16 and it worked well.

One point I like to mention here which I realized from my long experience is that, as a final cleaning step, plasma cleaning is a much better choice. If that is not available, you can do final cleaning in Isopropyl alcohol vapor. Cleaning in Isopropyl alcohol vapor is much better than rinsing with the liquid itself

Why don't you people use Chloroform for cleaning ITO glass. I use it as the last step. Any opinion on that?

We use ITO to make solar devices. To clean, we usually sonicate the substrate in dilute acid made with deionized water usually HCl to remove oxide impurities. We then rinse extensively with deionized water to remove the residual HCl. Finally, we sonicate it in acetone with the conductive side, transfer it while its still wet to ethanol and sonicate to remove organic impurities and then finally rinse with deionized water. The substrate is usually blown dry with compressed argon or nitrogen. We summarize the preparation of ITO in the paper below.

Article Correlating titania morphology and chemical composition with...

Substrate Cleaning Procedure

Boil in Soap Solution for 10 min

Boil in H2SO4 / H2O2 or Chromic acid for 15 min. (a solution by mixing equal proportions of concentrated H2SO4 and aqueous H2O2 solutions (remember to add the acid to the H2O2). A 3% H2O2 solution is usually sufficient, and under no circumstances should H2O2 solutions greater than 10% be used. The H2O2/H2SO4 solution is both a strong oxidant and a strong reductant, so care must be taken when using it.)

Clean it in running water three times and rinse with DI water

Clean in a boiling mixture of water : Ammonium Hydroxide (40%) : Hydrogen Peroxide (20%) in the ratio of 2:1:1 for 15 min to remove all the excess organic contaminants present on the surface of the substrates.

Rinse with DI water and then ultrasonicate in DI water for 5 min

Ultrasonicate in DI water once again for 5 min by changing the water

Ultrasonicate in Acetone for 5 min

Ultrasonicate in trichloro ethylene for 5 min

Ultrasonicate in Acetone for 5 min

Ultrasonicate in DI water for 5 min

Ultrasonicate in Isopropyle alcohol or ethyl alcohol

Dry on filter paper with the hot air blower without any drying spot

Cleaning procedure differs based on their applications. for solar cell devices kindly use deionised water, acetone and NaOH as Rafidah Ahmad suggested. this will not damage the slide. this was also suggested by our supplier.

Thanks for the good comments, those procedure was suggested for solar cell applications to ensure the substrate surface in good contact which later will effect solar cell performance (power conversion efficiency).

Double distilled water may be used also

Boiling for 5 min in NH3 30% + H2O2 30% (1:1 vol.) is the best way.

For solar cells, you need very basic cleaning such as ultrasonic cleaning / 1 acetone, isopropanol 2nd, 3rd ethanol and finally DI water / after you put your sample under UVozone for 20 minutes. all these cleaning is enough to have no impact on PCE

Dear sir/madam is it any possibility to replace uv/ozone treatment?

Dear sir/madam is it any possibility to replace uv/ozone treatment?

@selva UV/Ozone treatment is for removing organic impurities. It is required. See the reference

http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v6/n2/full/nphoton.2011.317.html