(Invited) Controlling Energy Transport in Tailored Carbon Nanotubes Networks for Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

The ability to selectively extract semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (s-SWCNT) species from the raw material with high fidelity is leading to their incorporation as elements in a variety of optical and electronic applications. We have recently employed conjugated polymers based on the fluorene chemical moiety to produce tailored s-SWCNT samples that can be incorporated into photovoltaic, thermoelectric, and transistor architectures.By controlling both the extent of carbon nanotube bundling and/or removing the insulating polymer that wraps the individual carbon nanotubes, we explore the complex effects of these morphological modifications on the transport of energy by excitonic species and charge carriers in enriched s-SWCNT networks. We show that removal of the insulating polymer, which is often strongly bound to the carbon nanotubes through van de Waals forces between the π-electron systems of the two components, results in a significant improvement in charge carrier transport. In contrast, exciton transport is subtly dependent on the specific nanotube-nanotube interactions in the network. For instance, exciton energy transfer to minority low-bandgap species within a bundle is extremely efficient, but this often traps the exciton in an individual bundle, thereby inhibiting long-range transport within the network.As alluded to above, the performance of carbon nanotubes in these applications is sometimes strongly dependent on the interplay between the optical and electronic properties of the s-SWCNT networks, which can be controlled by tuning the charge carrier density. We have developed a number of processes that allow us to exert fine control over the charge carrier density injected by redox-active chemical dopants, including the ability to controllably dope the s-SWCNT network p-type and n-type. We will discuss how these strategies can be exploited to exert fine control over charge-carrier transport in the doped s-SWCNT networks, allowing us to target the optimum doping level for the desired application.Finally, we will discuss the implications of our findings within the context of the incorporation of enriched s-SWCNT networks in energy harvesting applications.