Surface modification of indium tin oxide films with NH2+ ion implantation: Surface properties and gold nanoparticles attachment

NH2+ ion implantation was performed at the energy of 80 keV with fluence of 2 × 1016 ions·cm− 2 for indium tin oxide (ITO) film coated glass, and the existence of amino group on the ITO surface was verified by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been fabricated on the surface of the obtained NH2+ ions implantation-modified ITO (NH2/ITO) film, resulting gold nanoparticles-attached NH2+ ions implantation-modified ITO (AuNPs/NH2/ITO) substrate. This ion implantation approach provides a useful strategy to attach AuNPs on the ITO surface with higher density without using certain organic binding molecules. Cyclic voltammtric results indicate that the AuNPs/NH2/ITO electrode shows excellent electrochemical properties, and thus this material is expected to have widely potential applications in electrochemical analysis and biosensors.