Recent Advances in Applications of Sorted Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) exhibit outstanding properties that make them appealing in a wide range of applications. However, their properties are variable depending on the tube helicity (chirality), which has been a challenge for a long time and needs to be effectively controlled. In recent years, tremendous efforts have been made to control the electrical type/chirality of nanotubes through both direct controlled synthesis and postsynthesis separation methods. Driven by these breakthroughs, the applications of separated families of SWCNTs in various fields have emerged as a new topic of research. In this Review, an overview of recent advances in the use of highly purified and well-separated SWCNTs in a comprehensive range of applications is presented including photovoltaics, transistors, batteries, sensors, light emitters, biological/medical fields, and others. Finally, important future directions for the utilization of separated SWCNTs in these fields are provided.

Chirality‐Enriched Carbon Nanotubes for Next‐Generation Computing

“…In a notable example of polymer sorting, high-speed shear force mixing is used to disperse poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7diyl)-alt-co-(6,6ʹ-{2,2ʹ-bipyridine})] (PFO-BPy) and SWCNTs in a toluene solution. This polymer produces large volumes of nearly monochiral SWCNT dispersions, with s-SWCNT purity above the optical characterization detection limit (>99%) and (6,5) SWCNT content above 84%. [40] Figure 3b shows the structure of PFO-BPy and (6,5) SWCNTs, as well as the optical absorption spectra of dispersions after sequential recycling of unwrapped material.…”

“…Therefore, monolithic integration of these components could provide a novel material platform for next-generation flexible smart devices. [2,5] Toward this end, a number of SWCNT-based integrated systems have been realized that exploit complementary sensing, computational, and manufacturing advantages. We briefly discuss recent progress in these integrated systems, and refer the reader to the following comprehensive review on SWCNT-based flexible electronic systems.…”

“…Since the realization of the first SWCNT FET, [96] understanding and optimization of processing-property relationships has allowed substantial improvements in SWCNT FET metrics over the last two decades. [1,4,5] The key challenges to date include doping, controllable SWCNT assembly, solution-processing optimization, and wafer-scale uniformity. In this section, we discuss recent progress in processing of conventional SWCNT devices and advances in key challenge areas.…”

“…In order to study the effect of chiral polydispersity on the charge transport of s-SWCNT networks, dispersions have been prepared using various SWCNT sources (e.g., CoMoCat, HiPco, and tailored blends) and conjugated polymers (e.g., PFO and F8BT). [141] Notably, the tailored blend was designed to provide a large difference in SWCNT bandgaps by using majority (7,5) large-bandgap SWCNTs and minority (10,5) small-bandgap SWCNTs. As shown in Figure 5a, the tailored blend devices showed 20-25 times lower ON current and reduced carrier mobilities when compared to HiPco-based (i.e., large chiral polydispersity) devices.…”

“…[145] Both of these reports show high single-chirality abundance in their SWCNT solutions, enabling the fabrication of SWCNT network FETs with mobilities between 2-4 cm 2 V −1 s −1 . SWCNT FETs using channels of aligned ATPE-separated (6,5) SWCNTs have also been demonstrated using a wafer-scale vacuum filtration alignment technique, although these devices exhibit low ON/OFF ratios due to SWCNT-SWCNT screening effects. [146] Solution-processed monochiral SWCNTs are also compatible with additive manufacturing techniques.…”