Transparent conductive single-walled carbon nanotube networks with precisely tunable ratios of semiconducting and metallic nanotubes

Abstract

We present a comprehensive study of the optical and electrical properties of transparent conductive films made from precisely tuned ratios of metallic and semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes. The conductivity and transparency of the SWNT films are controlled by an interplay between localized and delocalized carriers, as determined by the SWNT electronic structure, tube-tube junctions, and intentional and unintentional redox dopants. The results suggest that the main resistance in the SWNT thin films is the resistance associated with tube-tube junctions. Redox dopants are found to increase the delocalized carrier density and transmission probability through intertube junctions more effectively for semiconductor-enriched films than for metal-enriched films. As a result, redox-doped semiconductor-enriched films are more conductive than either intrinsic or redox-doped metal-enriched films. © 2008 American Chemical Society.