Surface Energy Modification as a Means of Promoting Nanoparitcle-Substrate Electronic Couping

The focus of this paper is to describe studies on the wet chemical treatment of indium tin oxide (ITO) films to promote improved nanoparticle adhesion. Water contact angle measurements, Langmuir Blodgett (LB) film depositions, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence spectra were used to characterize the treated substrates and the resulting films deposited on them. The authors found a highly diluted aqua regia treatment produced the lowest energy ITO surfaces which in turn saw the highest quality nanocrystal films deposited on them.