Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a material used in displays for all kinds of everyday products, such as televisions, telephones and laptops, and solar cells. ITO is a rare metal, and the available supplies are expected to be almost completely exhausted within as little as ten years. Now researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, have developed a replacement for ITO that is made of commonly available materials, which are also environment-friendly. The new material is a transparent, conducting film produced in water, and comprised of electrically conducting carbon nanotubes and plastic nanoparticles. The conductivity of the film is still a factor of 100 lower than ITO, but the researchers expect the gap can be closed quickly. According to Cor Koning, a polymer chemist, “We used standard carbon nanotubes, a mixture of metallic conducting and semiconducting tubes. But as soon as you start to use 100 percent metallic tubes, the conductivity increases greatly. The production technology for 100 percent metallic tubes has just been developed, and we expect the price to fall rapidly.” Their findings were published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
http://www.tue.nl/en/university/news-and-press/news/researchers-find-replacement-for-rare-material-indium-tin-oxide/