Synthesis and characterization of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles with high conductivity using a facile ammonia-diffusion co-precipitation method

• Synthesized ATO powders by a facile ammonia-diffusion co-precipitation method.
• We explored the component and formation mechanism of ATO precursors.
• ATO with the conductivity of 8 S/cm was prepared under anhydrous condition.
• The yield using ammonia-diffusion co-precipitation method was nearly 80%.

Antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) nano particles were synthesized by a diffusion co-precipitation method using ethanol as a solvent in the ammonia atmosphere created by ammonium carbonate and they were annealed at 600 °C. Different doping amount of antimony and concentration of ethanol were used to investigate their effect on the conductivity and morphology of the obtained ATO powders. The results showed that the optimal experimental parameters to obtain ATO with high conductivity should be that the molar ratio of antimony and tin was 0.07:1 while the concentration of ethanol was 100%. Under these conditions, the size of the obtained nano ATO particles was in a range of 5–10 nm, their average size was 9.43 nm and their yield was nearly 80%. The highest conductivity obtained was 8 S/cm. Additionally, the reaction mechanism to form the ATO precursor was discussed in this study.