Advances of indium tin oxide in catalysis and cell

Regarded as a wide band gap semiconductor material with both favorable light transmission and excellent electronic conductivity, used as active substance or carrier of active site, indium tin oxide (ITO) has been continuously expanded and deepened into the emphatical application in catalysis, cell fields, etc., which is attributed to the excellent photoelectric properties originated from its composition and microstructure. In this review, the development history of ITO and the formation mechanism of its own special structure are firstly described. Then, the applications of ITO served as catalyst carrier or catalyst in catalysis (mainly photo/electrocatalysis) including water splitting, ammonia synthesis, pollutant degradation, and enzymatic reaction are discussed. As another focus of the paper, the research progress of ITO in solar cells like silicon heterojunction solar cell, perovskite solar cell and organic solar cell are introduced. And the effective application of ITO in fuel cell and lithium cell is further explained. Finally, the challenges, development perspectives, and research directions of ITO are featured.