Capillary‐Assisted Self‐Assembly of Carbon Nanotubes for the Self‐Powered Photothermoelectric Detector

Abstract

The development of mid‐infrared (MIR) detectors has become a hot research topic with significant progress in low‐dimensional materials and clean‐room fabrication strategies. Some of the applications of MIR detectors include industrial non‐destructive testing, wearable safety monitoring, and other Internet of Things. Photothermoelectric (PTE) mechanism, as a room‐temperature free‐bias conversion mode, is comprehensively developed in the MIR regimes in the last decade. Although carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their related materials are demonstrated as effective PTE conversion materials, the large‐area scalable detector fabrication based on the Si substrate is still underdeveloped, thus limiting further PTE device designs and industrial applications. Herein, the self‐assembly CNT‐based detectors driven by the capillary force are fabricated to achieve sensitive and rapid IR detection, and photoresponse measurements of PTE detectors are experimentally performed at room temperature and atmospheric conditions. This work reveals that the PTE mechanism can play a key role in the IR response, thereby broadening horizons about high‐performance IR detectors in industrial applications.

Terahertz communication: detection and signal processing

“…With the development of nanotechnology, nanoscale materials have shown great potential for applications in various fields. Several lowdimensional carbon-based materials, including CNTs [9][10][11][12][13], which exhibit as one-dimensional nanomaterials, and GRs [14][15][16][17] which represents as two-dimensional nanomaterials, have been widely applied in THz detection. In addition, other nanomaterials such as TMDC [18], BP [19], and MXenes [20,21] have attracted considerable attention.…”

A PEDOT:PSS nanocomposite film doped with black phosphorus modified with silver nanoparticles for wearable photothermoelectric generators

“…This effect exploits the remarkable ability of certain materials to generate heat (PT) when exposed to light and to convert this heat into electrical energy (TE). 26–35 In some instances, the PTE effect is a synergistic combination of both the PT–TE effect and the photoelectric (PE) effect with the TE effect. The PE–TE effect seamlessly merges the conversion of both light (PE) and heat (TE) into electricity.…”