skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Macroscopically aligned carbon nanotubes for flexible and high-temperature electronics, optoelectronics, and thermoelectrics

Journal Article · · Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics

The remarkable flexibility, stable chemical structure, and extraordinary thermal, electrical, and optical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising for a variety of applications in flexible and/or high-temperature electronics, optoelectronics, and thermoelectrics, including wearables, refractory photonics, and waste heat harvesting. However, the long-standing problem in the preparation of CNT ensembles is to maintain the extraordinary properties of individual CNTs on a macroscopic scale; the polydispersity and randomness remain two main challenges. In this topical review, we will discuss three ways of creating wafer-scale aligned CNTs: direct growth of aligned CNTs by chemical vapor deposition, production of ultrahigh- conductivity CNT fibers through solution spinning and coating, and spontaneous formation of wafer-scale aligned CNT films via controlled vacuum filtration. Here, we will then describe flexible and high-temperature applications of these materials, such as flexible CNT broadband detectors, flexible strain sensors, spectrally selective thermal emitters, and thermoelectric devices.

Research Organization:
Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Robert A. Welch Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0007865; FG02-06ER46308
OSTI ID:
1638468
Journal Information:
Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 6; ISSN 0022-3727
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (158)

C60: Buckminsterfullerene journal November 1985
Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon journal November 1991
Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films journal October 2004
Physical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes book January 1998
Single-shell carbon nanotubes of 1-nm diameter journal June 1993
Cobalt-catalysed growth of carbon nanotubes with single-atomic-layer walls journal June 1993
Coulomb Interactions and Mesoscopic Effects in Carbon Nanotubes journal December 1997
Spin Transport in Interacting Quantum Wires and Carbon Nanotubes journal October 2000
X-ray-edge singularities in nanotubes and quantum wires with multiple subbands journal February 2000
Spin-Orbit Coupling and Electron Spin Resonance Theory for Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2002
Narrow-Gap Luttinger Liquid in Carbon Nanotubes journal January 2003
Crossover from the Luttinger-Liquid to Coulomb-Blockade Regime in Carbon Nanotubes journal October 2005
Many-Body Effects in Finite Metallic Carbon Nanotubes journal March 2005
Spin Gap and Luttinger Liquid Description of the NMR Relaxation in Carbon Nanotubes journal October 2007
Electron Spin Resonance Signal of Luttinger Liquids and Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes journal September 2008
Scattering of Plasmons at the Intersection of Two Metallic Nanotubes: Implications for Tunneling journal December 2008
Intersubband Edge Singularity in Metallic Nanotubes journal September 2011
Carbon-based electronics journal September 2007
Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics journal June 2008
Optoelectronic Properties of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes journal August 2012
Thermal stability of single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes journal February 2005
Thermogravimetric analysis of single-wall carbon nanotubes ultrasonicated in monochlorobenzene journal October 2002
Thermogravimetric Analysis of the Oxidation of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes:  Evidence for the Role of Defect Sites in Carbon Nanotube Chemistry journal June 2002
New one-dimensional conductors: Graphitic microtubules journal March 1992
Fundamental optical processes in armchair carbon nanotubes journal January 2013
Individual single-wall carbon nanotubes as quantum wires journal April 1997
Impurity Scattering in Carbon Nanotubes – Absence of Back Scattering – journal May 1998
Berry's Phase and Absence of Back Scattering in Carbon Nanotubes journal August 1998
Extraordinary Mobility in Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes journal January 2004
Transparent, Conductive Carbon Nanotube Films journal August 2004
Charge-compensated, semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin film as an electrically configurable optical medium journal April 2013
Structural flexibility of carbon nanotubes journal February 1996
Bending and buckling of carbon nanotubes under large strain journal October 1997
Nanomechanics of Carbon Tubes: Instabilities beyond Linear Response journal April 1996
Tensile Loading of Ropes of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes and their Mechanical Properties journal June 2000
Strength and Breaking Mechanism of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Under Tensile Load journal January 2000
Measurements of near-ultimate strength for multiwalled carbon nanotubes and irradiation-induced crosslinking improvements journal August 2008
Highly Stretchable Carbon Nanotube Transistors with Ion Gel Gate Dielectrics journal January 2014
Macroscopic Freestanding Nanosheets with Exceptionally High Modulus journal June 2018
Carbon nanotube bundles with tensile strength over 80 GPa journal May 2018
Nanotubes as nanoprobes in scanning probe microscopy journal November 1996
Medium-scale carbon nanotube thin-film integrated circuits on flexible plastic substrates journal July 2008
Self-Sorted, Aligned Nanotube Networks for Thin-Film Transistors journal July 2008
Flexible high-performance carbon nanotube integrated circuits journal February 2011
Macroelectronic Integrated Circuits Using High-Performance Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors journal November 2010
Extremely Bendable, High-Performance Integrated Circuits Using Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube Networks for Digital, Analog, and Radio-Frequency Applications journal February 2012
Intrinsically Stretchable Polymer Light-Emitting Devices Using Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composite Electrodes journal July 2011
Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes journal October 2011
Thermoelectric figure of merit of a one-dimensional conductor journal June 1993
Tailored semiconducting carbon nanotube networks with enhanced thermoelectric properties journal April 2016
Isotropic Seebeck coefficient of aligned single-wall carbon nanotube films journal December 2018
Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thermoelectric Materials and Devices journal January 2018
Flexible thermoelectric materials and devices journal September 2018
A practical field guide to thermoelectrics: Fundamentals, synthesis, and characterization journal June 2018
Direct synthesis of high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes on silicon and quartz substrates journal August 2003
Growth of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotube films on quartz substrates and their optical anisotropy journal February 2004
Water-Assisted Highly Efficient Synthesis of Impurity-Free Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal November 2004
Investigation of Optimal Parameters for Oxide-Assisted Growth of Vertically Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal February 2009
Formation of Highly Dense Aligned Ribbons and Transparent Films of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Directly from Carpets journal August 2008
Dry Contact Transfer Printing of Aligned Carbon Nanotube Patterns and Characterization of Their Optical Properties for Diameter Distribution and Alignment journal January 2010
Dissolution of Pristine Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Superacids by Direct Protonation journal July 2004
True solutions of single-walled carbon nanotubes for assembly into macroscopic materials journal November 2009
Competing mechanisms and scaling laws for carbon nanotube scission by ultrasonication journal June 2012
Covalent Sidewall Functionalization of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes journal March 2003
Macroscopic, Neat, Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Fibers journal September 2004
Strong, Light, Multifunctional Fibers of Carbon Nanotubes with Ultrahigh Conductivity journal January 2013
Influence of Carbon Nanotube Characteristics on Macroscopic Fiber Properties journal October 2017
Direct observation of cross-polarized excitons in aligned single-chirality single-wall carbon nanotubes journal January 2019
Structure-Property Relations in Carbon Nanotube Fibers by Downscaling Solution Processing journal January 2018
Wafer-scale monodomain films of spontaneously aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes journal April 2016
Science and applications of wafer-scale crystalline carbon nanotube films prepared through controlled vacuum filtration journal March 2019
Modulation-Doped Multiple Quantum Wells of Aligned Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes journal February 2017
Doping of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles by Brønsted acids journal January 2003
Using oxidation to increase the electrical conductivity of carbon nanotube electrodes journal June 2009
Effect of Chemical Treatment on Electrical Conductivity, Infrared Absorption, and Raman Spectra of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal April 2005
Carbon Nanotube Terahertz Detector journal June 2014
Carbon Nanotube Photoelectronic and Photovoltaic Devices and their Applications in Infrared Detection journal March 2013
Uncooled Carbon Nanotube Photodetectors journal July 2015
Carbon Photodetectors: The Versatility of Carbon Allotropes journal November 2016
Carbon nanotube arrays based high-performance infrared photodetector [Invited] journal January 2012
Polarization-Sensitive Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes All-in-One Photodetecting and Emitting Device Working at 1.55 µm journal August 2017
A Doping-Free Carbon Nanotube CMOS Inverter-Based Bipolar Diode and Ambipolar Transistor journal September 2008
Photovoltaic Effects in Asymmetrically Contacted CNT Barrier-Free Bipolar Diode journal April 2009
Doping-free fabrication of carbon nanotube thin-film diodes and their photovoltaic characteristics journal November 2011
Photocurrent generation in semiconducting and metallic carbon nanotubes journal November 2013
In situ scanning‐tunneling‐microscopy studies of current driven mass transport in Ag journal November 1993
Intersubband plasmons in the quantum limit in gated and aligned carbon nanotubes journal March 2018
Amphoteric doping of single-wall carbon-nanotube thin films as probed by optical absorption spectroscopy journal November 1999
Fermi Level Engineering of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by AuCl 3 Doping journal September 2008
Electrochromic Carbon Electrodes: Controllable Visible Color Changes in Metallic Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes journal April 2011
Tuning Localized Transverse Surface Plasmon Resonance in Electricity-Selected Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Electrochemical Doping journal May 2015
Broadband, Polarization-Sensitive Photodetector Based on Optically-Thick Films of Macroscopically Long, Dense and Aligned Carbon Nanotubes journal February 2013
Photothermoelectric p–n Junction Photodetector with Intrinsic Broadband Polarimetry Based on Macroscopic Carbon Nanotube Films journal July 2013
A stretchable carbon nanotube strain sensor for human-motion detection journal March 2011
Flexible and transparent strain sensors based on super-aligned carbon nanotube films journal January 2017
Extremely Elastic Wearable Carbon Nanotube Fiber Strain Sensor for Monitoring of Human Motion journal May 2015
Directional sensing based on flexible aligned carbon nanotube film nanocomposites journal January 2018
A Stretchable Form of Single-Crystal Silicon for High-Performance Electronics on Rubber Substrates journal January 2006
Stretchable and Foldable Silicon Integrated Circuits journal April 2008
A Rubberlike Stretchable Active Matrix Using Elastic Conductors journal September 2008
Three-dimensional flexible and conductive interconnected graphene networks grown by chemical vapour deposition journal April 2011
Epidermal Electronics journal August 2011
Aligned Carbon Nanotube−Polymer Hybrid Architectures for Diverse Flexible Electronic Applications journal February 2006
Stretchable and Wearable Electrochromic Devices journal December 2013
Wearable Magnetic Field Sensors for Flexible Electronics journal December 2014
Reversible electromechanical characteristics of carbon nanotubes underlocal-probe manipulation journal June 2000
Electromechanical Properties of Metallic, Quasimetallic, and Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes under Stretching journal April 2003
Tuning Carbon Nanotube Band Gaps with Strain journal April 2003
Piezoresistance of carbon nanotubes on deformable thin-film membranes journal February 2005
Nano-Electromechanical Displacement Sensing Based on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal July 2006
Piezoresistive properties of carbon nanotubes under radial force investigated by atomic force microscopy journal February 2008
Carbon Nanotube Film Sensors journal April 2004
Nanotube film based on single-wall carbon nanotubes for strain sensing journal January 2004
Elastomeric Conductive Composites Based on Carbon Nanotube Forests journal May 2010
Spinning continuous carbon nanotube yarns journal October 2002
Superaligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays, Films, and Yarns: A Road to Applications journal January 2011
Tailoring the Morphology of Carbon Nanotube Arrays: From Spinnable Forests to Undulating Foams journal July 2009
On-Chip Narrowband Thermal Emitter for Mid-IR Optical Gas Sensing journal April 2017
A nanophotonic solar thermophotovoltaic device journal January 2014
Diameter Enlargement of HiPco Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Heat Treatment journal September 2001
Strong Anisotropy in the Far-Infrared Absorption Spectra of Stretch-Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2006
Blackbody radiation from resistively heated multiwalled carbon nanotubes during field emission journal August 2002
Polarized incandescent light emission from carbon nanotubes journal March 2003
Carbon nanotube filaments in household light bulbs journal June 2004
Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Emitter−Detector Integrated Optoelectronic Device journal August 2008
A black body absorber from vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes journal April 2009
Bright Infrared Emission from Electrically Induced Excitons in Carbon Nanotubes journal November 2005
Electrically driven thermal light emission from individual single-walled carbon nanotubes journal January 2007
Thermal Emission Spectra from Individual Suspended Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2011
An Electrically Driven, Ultrahigh-Speed, on-Chip Light Emitter Based on Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2014
Macroscopically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes as a Refractory Platform for Hyperbolic Thermal Emitters journal May 2019
Quantity, Quality, and Availability of Waste Heat from United States Thermal Power Generation journal June 2015
Flexible thermoelectric materials and device optimization for wearable energy harvesting journal January 2015
Experimental study of the effect of quantum-well structures on the thermoelectric figure of merit journal April 1996
The best thermoelectric. journal July 1996
Modulation of Thermoelectric Power of Individual Carbon Nanotubes journal December 2003
Observation of Thermopower Oscillations in the Coulomb Blockade Regime in a Semiconducting Carbon Nanotube journal January 2004
A nonequilibrium Green’s function study of thermoelectric properties in single-walled carbon nanotubes journal January 2011
Diameter dependence of thermoelectric power of semiconducting carbon nanotubes journal October 2015
Polymer-Free Carbon Nanotube Thermoelectrics with Improved Charge Carrier Transport and Power Factor journal November 2016
Large n- and p-type thermoelectric power factors from doped semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube thin films journal January 2017
Giant Seebeck coefficient in semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotube film journal January 2014
Tuning of the Thermoelectric Properties of One-Dimensional Material Networks by Electric Double Layer Techniques Using Ionic Liquids journal October 2014
Solving the Thermoelectric Trade-Off Problem with Metallic Carbon Nanotubes journal September 2019
Electrical and thermal transport properties of magnetically aligned single wall carbon nanotube films journal July 2000
Ultrahigh-Power-Factor Carbon Nanotubes and an Ingenious Strategy for Thermoelectric Performance Evaluation journal May 2016
Fabrication of thermoelectric devices using precisely Fermi level-tuned semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes journal July 2015
Thermoelectric Detection of Multi-Subband Density of States in Semiconducting and Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes journal May 2016
Carbon nanotubes [Uglerodnye nanotrubki] journal January 1997
Carbon Nanotubes journal June 1996
Carbon Nanotubes journal December 2002
Wearable magnetic field sensors for flexible electronics null January 2014
A nonequilibrium Green's function study of thermoelectric properties in single-walled carbon nanotubes text January 2010
Intersubband Edge Singularity in Metallic Nanotubes text January 2011
Diameter dependence of thermoelectric power of semiconducting carbon nanotubes text January 2015
Narrow gap Luttinger liquid in Carbon nanotubes text January 2002
Coulomb Interactions and Mesoscopic Effects in Carbon Nanotubes text January 1997
``X-Ray Edge'' Singularities in Nanotubes and Quantum Wires with Multiple Subbands text January 1999