Charge transport in semiconducting carbon nanotube networks

Abstract

Efficient and controlled charge transport in networks of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes is the basis for their application in electronic devices, especially in field-effect transistors and thermoelectrics. The recent advances in selective growth, purification, and sorting of semiconducting and even monochiral carbon nanotubes have enabled field-effect transistors with high carrier mobilities and on/off current ratios that were impossible a few years ago. They have also allowed researchers to examine the microscopic interplay of parameters such as nanotube length, density, diameter distribution, carrier density, intentional and unintentional defects, dielectric environment, etc., and their impact on the macroscopic charge transport properties in a rational and reproducible manner. This review discusses various models that are considered for charge transport in nanotube networks and the experimental methods to characterize and investigate transport beyond simple conductivity or transistor measurements. Static and dynamic absorption, photoluminescence and electroluminescence spectroscopy, as well as scanning probe techniques (e.g., conductive atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy), and their unique insights in the distribution of charge carriers in a given nanotube network and the resulting current pathways will be introduced. Finally, recommendations for further optimization of nanotube network devices and a list of remaining challenges are provided.

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Unified Modeling and Experimental Realization of Electrical and Thermal Percolation in Polymer Composites
• 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
• Evidence for Phonon-Assisted Intertube Electronic Transport in an Armchair Carbon Nanotube Film
• Bandgap-Dependent Doping of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Networks by Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer for Stable Thermoelectrics
• Trion emission from frozen p-n junctions in networks of electrolyte-gated (6,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes
• Dynamical processes on metric networks
• Adjudicating Conduction Mechanisms in High Performance Carbon Nanotube Fibers
• Schottky-like barrier characterization of field-effect transistors with multiple quasi-ballistic channels
• Optimizing Transparent Electrodes: Interplay of High Purity SWCNTs network and a Polymer
• Laser-Enhanced Contact Optimization in Silicon Photovoltaics: Mechanisms, Reliability, and Predictive Process Design
• Crossover between kite growth and vibrational bridging in pillar-assisted controlled formation of carbon nanotube networks