Preparation of optically transparent electrodes

PREPARATION OF OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT ELECTRODES. A simple experiment for the preparation of transparent conducting glass electrodes by deposition of pure and fluorine doped SnO2 films is described. This procedure was tested in the undergraduate inorganic course at 1Q-UNICAMP. The success in achieving a conducting layer was easily checked using the standard probes of a volt-ohm meter. The optical transmittance and thickness were studied by UV-vis spectrophotometry. To discuss the experimental results we place significant emphasis on molecular orbital and energy band model theories. The undergraduate students can also discuss the concepts related to the electronic properties of solids and to interesting new materials, such as transparent conducting films, which are the subject of significant current research and technological applications.