Robert HaddonDistinguished ProfessorChemistry haddon@ucr.edu(951) 827-2044
Electro-Optics of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Thin Films: Physics and Applications
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AWARD NUMBER
006828-002
FUND NUMBER
21265
STATUS
Closed
AWARD TYPE
3-Grant
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AWARD EXECUTION DATE
6/13/2014
BEGIN DATE
7/1/2014
END DATE
6/30/2017
AWARD AMOUNT
$349,995
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Sponsor Information
SPONSOR AWARD NUMBER
SPONSOR
SPONSOR TYPE
FUNCTION
Organized Research
PROGRAM NAME
Proposal Information
PROPOSAL NUMBER
14040373
PROPOSAL TYPE
New
ACTIVITY TYPE
Basic Research
PI Information
PI
Haddon, Robert C
PI TITLE
Other
PI DEPTARTMENT
Chemistry
PI COLLEGE/SCHOOL
College of Nat & Agr Sciences
CO PIs
Project Information
ABSTRACT
Abstract - Electro-Optics of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Thin Films: Physics and Applications.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY
Individual semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SC-SWNTs) constitute the ideal field effect transistor as a result of their high mobilities, high current carrying capacity and low intrinsic capacitance. The development of devices based on a channel composed of a single semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube continues to be an active area of research due to the stringent requirements that this technology places on the material purity of the SC-SWNTs (diameter, chirality and the necessity to exclude metallic SWNTs), and assembly of individual devices into fully wired very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. In this respect the SC-SWNT films proposed for study in the present project form a particularly appealing target because such films are readily prepared by simple bench top laboratory techniques that include filtration, spraying, drop-casting and stamping and by careful control of the preparative conditions, readily allow the reproducible fabrication of flexible, transferrable SC-SWNT films with thicknesses that range from 1 to 1000 nm.
The present proposal aims to further this thin film technology by extending the outstanding engineering and physical properties of single SC-SWNT devices to chemically engineered SWNT thin films by use of suitably chosen organic dopants and ionic liquids in gated field effect transistor devices. Among the functional optoelectronic components selected for study are electro-optical modulators, photodetectors and light emitters. The experimental observation of the enhanced Franz-Keldysh effect may lead to a new generation of electro-optical modulators capable of operating at high speed, high efficiency and low voltage. The new strategy of p-n junction formation, based on the recent observation of strong internal electric fields in SWNT thin film channels coated with ionic liquids, will be used to enhance the photoconductivity in SWNTs. In past flexible electronics and smart window applications, SWNT thin films were usually explored as passive transparent electrodes; this proposal will explore the feasibility of utilizing SWNT thin films as active electrochromic layers for smart windows and electrically configurable optical media. The proposed work will stimulate the development of a new field of optoelectronics based on SWNT thin films and thin film based flexible electronics which will increase the technological and economic competitiveness of the United States.
TECHNICAL SUMMARY
It is proposed to experimentally explore the physics of electro-optical phenomena in films of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SC-SWNTs) and their device applications. The SWNT thin films constitute the ideal medium for studying electro-optical phenomena, because they possess the same fundamental physical properties as individual SWNTs, but also allow the application of a variety of characterization techniques and offer the possibility of the development of a new class of SWNT thin film based electro-optical devices. The project focuses on the application of semiconducting SWNTs and the work builds on recent developments in this area such as the SWNT bolometric photodetector, optocoupler, electro-optical modulator and electrically reconfigurable optical media. Proposed new experiments include: (i) the realization of the enhanced Franz-Keldysh effect by the application of strong longitudinal electric fields to films of aligned SWNTs; (ii) the fabrication of SWNT p-n junctions utilizing electrostatic doping induced by an ionic liquid for the development of photodetectors and light emitters; (iii) exploration of the ability of SWNT thin films to function as electrically configurable optical media of spatially modulated infrared transparency and as the active electrochromic layer for smart windows.(Abstract from NSF)
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