Abstract
Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess outstanding electrical and optical properties because of their special one-dimensional (1D) structure. CNTs are direct bandgap materials, which makes them ideal for use in optoelectronic devices, e.g. light emitters and light detectors. Excitons determine their light absorption and light emission processes due to the strong Coulomb interactions between electrons and holes in CNTs. In this paper, we review recent progress in CNT photodetectors, photovoltaic devices and light emitters. In particular, we focus on the doping-free CNT optoelectronic devices developed by our group in recent years.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Avouris P, Freitag M, Perebeinos V. Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics. Nat Photonics, 2008, 2: 341–350
Durkop T, Getty S A, Cobas E, et al. Extraordinary mobility in semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett, 2004, 4: 35–39
Prechtel L, Song L, Manus S, et al. Time-resolved picosecond photocurrents in contacted carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett, 2011, 11: 269–272
Kamat P V. Harvesting photons with carbon nanotubes. Nano Today, 2006, 1: 20–27
Zhu H W, Wei J Q, Wang K L, et al. Applications of carbon materials in photovoltaic solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells, 2009, 93: 1461–1470
Dukovic G, Wang F, Song D, et al. Structural dependence of excitonic optical transitions and band-gap energies in carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett, 2005, 5: 2314–2318
Wang F, Dukovic G, Brus L E, et al. The optical resonances in carbon nanotubes arise from excitons. Science, 2005, 308: 838–841
Perebeinos V, Tersoff J, Avouris P. Scaling of excitons in carbon nanotubes. Phys Rev Lett, 2004, 92: 257402
Freitag M, Martin Y, Misewich J A, et al. Photoconductivity of single carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett, 2003, 3: 1067
Balasubramanian K, Fan Y, Burghard M, et al. Photoelectronic transport imaging of individual semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Appl Phys Lett, 2005, 87: 073101
Shim M, Siddons G P. Photoinduced conductivity changes in carbon nanotube transistors. Appl Phys Lett, 2003, 83: 3564
Avouris P, Afzali A, Appenzeller J, et al. Carbon nanotube electronics and optoelectronics. IEDM Tech Digest, 2004, 525
Lee J U. Photovoltaic effect in ideal carbon nanotube diodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2005, 87: 073101
Gabor N M, Zhong Z H, Bosnick K, et al. Extremely efficient multiple electron-hole pair generation in carbon nanotube photodiodes. Science, 2010, 325: 1367–1371
Zhou C W, Kong J, Yenilmez E, et al. Modulated chemical doping of individual carbon nanotube. Science, 2000, 290: 1552–1555
Abdula D, Shim M. Performance and photovoltaic response of polymer-doped carbon nanotube p-n diodes. ACS Nano, 2008, 2: 2154
Lee J U, Gipp P P, Heller C M. Carbon nanotube p-n junction diodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2004, 85: 145–147
Shockley W, Queisser H. Detailed balance limit of efficiency of p-n junction solar cells. J Appl Phys, 1961, 32: 510–519
Wang S, Zhang Z Y, Ding L, et al. A doping-free carbon nanotube CMOS inverter-based bipolar diode and ambipolar transistor. Adv Mater, 2008, 20: 3258–3262
Javey A, Guo J, Wang Q, et al. Ballistic carbon nanotube field-effect transistors. Nature, 2003, 424: 654–657
Zhang Z Y, Liang X L, Wang S, et al. Doping-free fabrication of carbon nanotube based ballistic CMOS devices and circuits. Nano Lett, 2007, 7: 3603–3607
Zhang Z Y, Wang S, Ding L, et al. Self-aligned ballistic n-type single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors with adjustable threshold voltage. Nano Lett, 2008, 8: 3696–3701
Ding L, Wang S, Zhang Z Y, et al. Y-contacted high-performance n-type single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors: Scaling and comparison with Sc-contacted devices. Nano Lett, 2009, 9: 4209–4214
Sze S M. Physics of Semiconductor Devices. New York: Wiley, 1981
Wang S, Zhang L H, Zhang Z Y, et al. Photovoltaic effects in asymmetrically contacted CNT barrier-free bipolar diode. J Phys Chem C, 2009, 113: 6891–6893
Chen C, Lu Y, Kong E S, et al. Nanowelded carbon-nanotube based solar microcells. Small, 2008, 4: 1313–1318
Wei J, Jia Y, Shu Q, et al. Double-walled carbon nanotube solar cells. Nano Lett, 2007, 7: 2317–2321
Jia Y, Wei J, Wang K, et al. Nanotube-silicon heterojunction solar cells. Adv Mater, 2008, 20: 4594–4598
Li Z, Kunets V, Saini V, et al. Light-harvesting using high density p-type single wall carbon nanotube/n-type silicon heterojunctions. ACS Nano, 2009, 3: 1407–1414
Zhang L, Jia Y, Wang S, et al. Carbon nanotube and CdSe nanobelt Schottky junction solar cells. Nano Lett, 2010, 10: 3583–3589
Liang C, Roth S. Electrical and optical transport of GaAs/carbon nanotube heterojunctions. Nano Lett, 2008, 8: 1809–1812
Brown P, Takechi K, Kamat P. Single-walled carbon nanotube scaffolds for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C, 2008, 112: 4776–4782
Robel I, Bunker B, Kamat P. Single-walled carbon nanotube-CdS nanocomposites as light-harvesting assemblies: Photoinduced charge-transfer interactions. Adv Mater, 2005, 17: 2458–2463
Misewich J A, Martel R, Avouris P, et al. Electrically induced optical emission from a carbon nanotube FET. Science, 2003, 300: 783–786
Chen J, Perebeinos V, Freitag M, et al. Bright infrared emission from electrically induced excitons in carbon nanotubes. Science, 2005, 310: 1171–1174
Marty L, Adam E, Albert L, et al. Exciton formation and annihilation during 1D impact excitation of carbon nanotubes. Phys Rev Lett, 2006, 96: 36803
Xia F, Steiner M, Lin Y M, et al. A microcavity-contralled, current-driven, on-chip nanotube emitter at infrared wavelengths. Nat Nanotechnol, 2008, 3: 609–613
Mueller T, Kinoshita M, Steiner M, et al. Efficient narrow-band light emission from a single carbon p-n diode. Nat Nanotechnol, 2010, 5: 27–31
Wang S, Zeng Q S, Yang L J, et al. High-performance carbon nanotube light-emitting diodes with asymmetric contacts. Nano Lett, 2011, 11: 23–29
Adam E, Aguirre C M, Marty L, et al. Electroluminescence from single-wall carbon nanotube network transistors. Nano Lett, 2008, 8: 2351–2355
Lefebvre J, Austing D G, Finnie P. Two modes of electroluminescence from single-walled carbon nanotubes. Phys Status Solidi RRL, 2009, 3: 199–201
Engel M, Small J P, Steiner M, et al. Thin film nanotube transistors based on self-assembled, aligned, semiconducting carbon nanotube arrays. ACS Nano, 2008, 2: 2445–2452
Zaumseil J, Ho X, Guest J R, et al. Electroluminescence from electrolyte-gated carbon nanotube field-effect transistors. ACS Nano, 2009, 3: 2225–2234
Piper W W, Williams F E. Theory of electroluminescence. Phys Rev, 1958, 98: 1809–1813
Weisman R B, Bachilo S M. Dependence of optical energies on structure for single-walled carbon nanotubes in aqueous suspension: An empirical Kataura plot. Nano Lett, 2003, 3: 1235–1238
Bachilo S M, Strano M S, Kittrell C, et al. Structure-assigned optical spectra of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Science, 2002, 298: 2361–2366
O’Connell M J, Bachilo S M, Huffman C B, et al. Band gap fluorescence from individual single-walled carbon nanotubes. Science, 2002, 297: 593–596
Wang F, Dukovic G, Brus L E, et al. The optical resonances in carbon nanotubes arise from excitons. Science, 2005, 308: 838–841
Dukovic G, Wang F, Song D, et al. Structural dependence of excitonic optical transitions and band-gap energies in carbon nanotubes. Nano Lett, 2005, 5: 2314–2318
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, S., Zhang, Z. & Peng, L. Doping-free carbon nanotube optoelectronic devices. Chin. Sci. Bull. 57, 149–156 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4806-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4806-3