High-purity Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes Research Articles

Functionalized carbon nanotube field-effect transistor biosensor for highly sensitive detection of exosomal protein

Since the exosomal protein level is related to many diseases, sensitive detection of exosomal protein is highly desirable. Here, we describe a polymer-sorted high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) films-based field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor for ultrasensitive and label-free detection of MUC1, a transmembrane protein highly expressed in breast cancer exosomes. Polymer-sorted semiconducting CNTs hold advantages including high purity (>99%), high CNT concentration, and short processing time (<1 h), but they are difficult to be stably functionalized with biomolecules because of lacking hanging bonds on their surface. To solve this issue, poly-lysine (PLL) was employed to modify the CNT films after they were deposited on the sensing channel surface of the fabricated FET chip. To specifically recognize the exosomal protein, sulfhydryl aptamer probes were immobilized on the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) surface that was assembled on PLL substrate. The aptamer-modified CNT FET was capable of sensitively and selectively detecting exosomal MUC1 as high as 0.34 fg/mL. Moreover, the CNT FET biosensor was able to recognize breast cancer patients from healthy individuals by comparing the expression level of exosomal MUC1. The developed CNT FET biosensor is expected to be a novel assay for early diagnosis of cancer.

Carbon nanotube digital electronics

It is anticipated that the scaling of silicon complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) devices will end around 2020, but alternative technologies capable of maintaining advances in computing power and energy efficiency have not yet been established. Among various options, carbon-nanotube-based electronics has been shown to be one of the most promising candidates. A range of methods have been developed to prepare high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes suitable for use in integrated circuits, and 5 nm nanotube transistors with superior performance to that of silicon CMOS have been demonstrated. Here, we explore the potential of carbon nanotube digital electronics. We examine the development of nanotube-based CMOS field-effect transistors and the different nanotube material systems available to build integrated circuits. We also highlight the medium-scale integrated circuits created to date and consider the challenges that exist in delivering large-scale systems. This Perspective explores the potential of carbon nanotube electronics, examining the development of nanotube-based field-effect transistors and integrated circuits, and the challenges that exist in delivering large-scale systems.

Carbon Nanotube Thin Films for High-Performance Flexible Electronics Applications.

Carbon nanotube thin films have attracted considerable attention because of their potential use in flexible/stretchable electronics applications, such as flexible displays and wearable health monitoring devices. Due to recent progress in the post-purification processes of carbon nanotubes, high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes can be obtained for thin-film transistor applications. One of the key challenges for the practical use of carbon nanotube thin-film transistors is the thin-film formation technology, which is required for achieving not only high performance but also uniform device characteristics. In this paper, after describing the fundamental thin-film formation techniques, we review the recent progress of thin-film formation technologies for carbon nanotube-based flexible electronics.

Mass Production of High-Purity Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes by Hydrochloric Acid Assisted Gel Chromatography

Mass production of high-purity semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) is critical for their application in the electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here we reported a method for h...

Selective dispersion of high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes using indacenodithiophene-based conjugated polymer

The facile sorting of highly pure semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWNTs) is still one of the challenging issues for the next-generation wearable electronic devices such as various opto-electric devices and field-effect transistors (FETs). Herein, we demonstrate the selective dispersion of high-purity s-SWNTs using indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (IDT-BT), which is a state-of-the-art high-mobility conjugated polymer. By the selective wrapping of the IDT-BT copolymer, SWNTs of chiral indices (6, 5), (7, 5), (7, 6), (8, 4), (9, 4), (8, 6), (8, 7), (10, 5), (9, 7), (10, 6), (11, 1), and (13, 3) are sorted. Finally, the networked s-SWNT film formed by spin-coating is applied as an active layer of FETs that exhibited ambipolar characteristics with an average mobility of 2.28 cm2/V s in the p-channel and 2.10 cm2/V s in the n-channel. The ON/OFF ratios in both p- and n-channels are approximately 105, which supports the high purity separation of s-SWNTs wrapped by IDT-BT.

Fully printed flexible carbon nanotube photodetectors

Here, we report fully printed flexible photodetectors based on single-wall carbon nanotubes and the study of their electrical characteristics under laser illumination. Due to the photothermal effect and the use of high purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes, the devices exhibit gate-voltage-dependent photoresponse with the positive photocurrent or semiconductor-like behavior (conductivity increases at elevated temperatures) under positive gate biases and the negative photocurrent or metal-like behavior (conductivity decreases at elevated temperatures) under negative gate biases. Mechanism for such photoresponse is attributed to the different temperature dependencies of carrier concentration and carrier mobility, which are two competing factors that ultimately determine the photothermal effect-based photoresponse. The photodetectors built on the polyimide substrate also exhibit superior mechanical compliance and stable photoresponse after thousands of bending cycles down to a curvature radius as small as 3 mm. Furthermore, due to the low thermal conductivity of the plastic substrate, the devices show up to 6.5 fold improvement in responsivity compared to the devices built on the silicon substrate. The results presented here provide a viable path to low cost and high performance flexible photodetectors fabricated entirely by the printing process.

Radio Frequency and Linearity Performance of Transistors Using High-Purity Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes

This paper reports the radio frequency (RF) and linearity performance of transistors using high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes. High-density, uniform semiconducting nanotube networks are deposited at wafer scale using our APTES-assisted nanotube deposition technique, and RF transistors with channel lengths down to 500 nm are fabricated. We report on transistors exhibiting a cutoff frequency (f(t)) of 5 GHz and with maximum oscillation frequency (f(max)) of 1.5 GHz. Besides the cutoff frequency, the other important figure of merit for the RF transistors is the device linearity. For the first time, we report carbon nanotube RF transistor linearity metrics up to 1 GHz. Without the use of active probes to provide the high impedance termination, the measurement bandwidth is therefore not limited, and the linearity measurements can be conducted at the frequencies where the transistors are intended to be operating. We conclude that semiconducting nanotube-based transistors are potentially promising building blocks for highly linear RF electronics and circuit applications.

Air-Stable Conversion of Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors from p-Type to n-Type Using Atomic Layer Deposition of High-κ Oxide and Its Application in CMOS Logic Circuits

Due to extraordinary electrical properties, preseparated, high purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes hold great potential for thin-film transistors (TFTs) and integrated circuit applications. One of the main challenges it still faces is the fabrication of air-stable n-type nanotube TFTs with industry-compatible techniques. Here in this paper, we report a novel and highly reliable method of converting the as-made p-type TFTs using preseparated semiconducting nanotubes into air-stable n-type transistors by adding a high-κ oxide passivation layer using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The n-type devices exhibit symmetric electrical performance compared with the p-type devices in terms of on-current, on/off ratio, and device mobility. Various factors affecting the conversion process, including ALD temperature, metal contact material, and channel length, have also been systematically studied by a series of designed experiments. A complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) inverter with rail-to-rail output, symmetric input/output behavior, and large noise margin has been further demonstrated. The excellent performance gives us the feasibility of cascading multiple stages of logic blocks and larger scale integration. Our approach can serve as the critical foundation for future nanotube-based thin-film macroelectronics.