Properly Cleaning ITO Substrates for Organic Solar Cells

[tufnatufna]

Hi

Could anyone tell me the procedure for the cleaning ITO substrates for organic solar cells?

This was my procedure, but I always had dirty spots on the glass and of course shortcuts in the cell.

1) cleaning in a deionized water + detergent (Hellmanex) mixture in ultrasonic bath (60 min)
2) 30min in deionized water in ultrasonic bath
3) then 30 min in ethanol (absolute) in ultrasonic bath
4) 15 min in acetone in ultrasonic bath
5) drying with nitrogen

What have I done wrong?

Thanks

 

[jib127]

You should not end in acetone.

Acetone tends to be a relatively dirty solvent, and if you put a drop of acetone on a microscope slide and let it evaporate you are likely to find a film left behind. This is probably the origin of the dirty spots you see on your substrates. It is best to end in your cleanest solvent, probably DI water in this case. I usually find good results with:
1) acetone
2) isopropanol
3) DI water
4) nitrogen dry

 

[tufnatufna]

Thank you, I also thought it was a problem. I got such recipe and it was a reason why I was doing that way.