Conducting ITO Nanoparticle-Based Aerogels-Nonaqueous One-Pot Synthesis vs. Particle Assembly Routes.

Indium tin oxide (ITO) aerogels offer a combination of high surface area, porosity and conductive properties and could therefore be a promising material for electrodes in the fields of batteries, solar cells and fuel cells, as well as for optoelectronic applications. In this study, ITO aerogels were synthesized via two different approaches, followed by critical point drying (CPD) with liquid CO. During the nonaqueous one-pot sol-gel synthesis in benzylamine (BnNH), the ITO nanoparticles arranged to form a gel, which could be directly processed into an aerogel via solvent exchange, followed by CPD.