Charge Transport in and Electroluminescence from sp${}^3$-Functionalized Carbon Nanotube Networks

Abstract

The controlled covalent functionalization of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with luminescent sp${}^3$ defects leads to additional narrow and tunable photoluminescence features in the near-infrared and even enables single-photon emission at room temperature, thus strongly expanding their application potential. However, the successful integration of sp${}^3$-functionalized SWCNTs in optoelectronic devices with efficient defect state electroluminescence not only requires control over their emission properties but also a detailed understanding of the impact of functionalization on their electrical performance, especially in dense networks. Here, we demonstrate ambipolar, light-emitting field-effect transistors based on networks of pristine and functionalized polymer-sorted (6,5) SWCNTs. We investigate the influence of sp${}^3$ defects on charge transport by employing electroluminescence and (charge-modulated) photoluminescence spectroscopy combined with temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements. We find that sp${}^3$-functionalized SWCNTs actively participate in charge transport within the network as mobile carriers efficiently sample the sp${}^3$ defects, which act as shallow trap states. While both hole and electron mobilities decrease with increasing degree of functionalization, the transistors remain fully operational, showing electroluminescence from the defect states that can be tuned by the defect density.

ACS Nano 2021

References in corpus (2)

• Synthetic Control over the Binding Configuration of Luminescent sp3-Defects in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
• Population of Exciton-Polaritons via Luminescent sp${}^3$ Defects in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Luminescent Defects in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Applications
• Charge transport in semiconducting carbon nanotube networks
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• Unified Quantification of Quantum Defects in Small-Diameter Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Raman Spectroscopy
• Ion-Exchange Doping of Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
• Probing Carrier Dynamics in sp${}^3$-Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Time-Resolved Terahertz Spectroscopy
• Impact of Dielectric Environment on Trion Emission from Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks
• How to Recognize Clustering of Luminescent Defects in Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes
• Near-Intrinsic Photo- and Electroluminescence from Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Thin Films on BCB-Passivated Surfaces
• Bandgap-Dependent Doping of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Networks by Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer for Stable Thermoelectrics
• Tuning Electroluminescence from Functionalized SWCNT Networks further into the Near-Infrared
• Trion emission from frozen p-n junctions in networks of electrolyte-gated (6,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes