Hydrodynamic Assembly of Conductive Nanomesh of Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using Biological Glue

Abstract

A hydrodynamic phenomenon is used to assemble a large-scale conductive nanomesh of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with exceptional control of the nanostructure. This is accomplished by a biological material with nanoscale features and a strong binding affinity toward SWNTs. The biological material also presents a unique glue effect for the assembly. Unprecedented material characteristics are observed for the nanomesh.

Ultralow voltage operation of biologically assembled all carbon nanotube nanomesh transistors with ion-gel gate dielectrics

“…A nanomesh of SWNTs and M13 phage assembled in an aqueous solution were transferred using a pre-patterned stencil mask to form channels and source, drain, and gate electrodes. The M13 phage used is a filamentous biological material that has strong binding affinity toward SWNTs on its body surface and the SWNTs and the M13 phage bind each other along their lengths 17 . The ion-gel solution was drop-cast onto the device with the channel region and all of the electrodes having been patterned, and dried to form a gate dielectric layer.…”

“…Low content of the SWNTs in the nanomesh was previously shown to be essential to provide the channel with high on/off ratio, while high concentration was required to achieve low electrical resistance of the electrodes 17, 18 . A scanning electron micrograph of each nanomesh is shown in Fig.…”

“…Fabricating all-CNT-based FETs via simple solution process, at room temperature and without using lithography and vacuum process could further broaden the applicability of all CNT-based FETs. Previously, our group showed that aSWNT-network film could be successfully assembled in an aqueous solution using a biological template material under a hydrodynamic process, such as dialysis, to produce so called a SWNT nanomesh 17 . Such hydrodynamic process produced a free-standing SNWT-nanomesh film by releasing the nanomesh from the dialysis membrane 17 .…”

“…Previously, our group showed that aSWNT-network film could be successfully assembled in an aqueous solution using a biological template material under a hydrodynamic process, such as dialysis, to produce so called a SWNT nanomesh 17 . Such hydrodynamic process produced a free-standing SNWT-nanomesh film by releasing the nanomesh from the dialysis membrane 17 . Simple transfer of the free-standing nanomesh of unsorted SWNTs (U-SWNTs) using pre-patterned mask successfully produced channels for FETs 17, 18 .…”

“…Such hydrodynamic process produced a free-standing SNWT-nanomesh film by releasing the nanomesh from the dialysis membrane 17 . Simple transfer of the free-standing nanomesh of unsorted SWNTs (U-SWNTs) using pre-patterned mask successfully produced channels for FETs 17, 18 . In this scheme, no chemical or heat treatment is required either to remove surfactants used for dispersing CNTs or to dissolve the supporting structure onto which the CNT film was deposited.…”