\n\tThe University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, announces that a team of researchers has developed a barium-tin-oxide transparent and highly conductive thin film in which they replaced elemental tin with a chemical precursor of tin. The precursor has unique, radical properties that enhance the chemical reactivity and greatly improve the metal oxide formation process. Both barium and tin are significantly cheaper than indium and are abundantly available.<\/p>\n
\n\t“We were quite surprised at how well this unconventional approach worked the very first time we used the tin chemical precursor,” said University of Minnesota chemical engineering and materials science graduate student Abhinav Prakash, the first author of the paper. “It was a big risk, but it was quite a big breakthrough for us.”<\/span><\/p>\n