Simultaneous enhancement of electrical and optical properties of transparent conducting RuO₂ nanosheet films by facile ultraviolet-ozone irradiation

The enhancement of electrical and optical properties in transparent conducting electrodes has attracted significant interest for their application in flexible electronic devices. Herein, a method for the fabrication of transparent conducting films is proposed. In this approach, RuO₂ nanosheets are synthesized by a simple chemical exfoliation method and deposited as conducting films by repeated Langmuir-Blodgett coating. For enhancing the electrical and optical properties of the films, ultraviolet-ozone irradiation is applied between the repeated coatings for the removal of residual organic materials from the chemically exfoliated nanosheets. We observe that by applying ultraviolet-ozone irradiation for 30 min, the sheet resistance of the films decreases by 10% and the optical transmittance is simultaneously enhanced. Facile ultraviolet-ozone irradiation is shown to be an effective and industrially friendly method for enhancing the electrical and optical properties of oxide nanosheets for their application as transparent conduction electrodes.