Solution-processed soldering of carbon nanotubes for flexible electronics

Abstract

We report a simple lithography-free, solution-based method of soldering of carbon nanotubes with Ohmic contacts, by taking specific examples of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). This is achieved by self-assembling a monolayer of soldering precursor, Pd(2+) anchored to 1,10 decanedithiol, onto which MWNTs could be aligned across the gap electrodes via solvent evaporation. The nanosoldering was realized by thermal/electrical activation or by both in sequence. Electrical activation and the following step of washing ensure selective retention of MWNTs spanning across the gap electrodes. The soldered joints were robust enough to sustain strain caused during the bending of flexible substrates as well as during ultrasonication. The estimated temperature generated at the MWNT-Au interface using an electro-thermal model is ∼150 °C, suggesting Joule heating as the primary mechanism of electrical activation. Further, the specific contact resistance is estimated from the transmission line model.

Effect of Length, Diameter, Chirality, Deformation, and Strain on Contact Thermal Conductance Between Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

“…(Meyyappan, 2004). Within the specialized field of nanoelectronics, fabrication as well as modeling of the novel carbon-based nanoelectronic devices, such as thin-film transistors, flexible traces, conductive solders, and adhesives, etc., have gained a lot of momentum in recent years (Artukovic et al, 2005;Allen et al, 2006;Engel et al, 2008;Ishikawa et al, 2008;Behnam et al, 2013;Park et al, 2013;Rao et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2013;Schiessl et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2015;Chortos et al, 2016), because of their excellent thermal and electrical properties, which are two key characteristics required for nanoelectronics device applications. These properties can be further tuned through chemical and structural modifications (such as functionalization, dopants, defects, contact/ interface characteristics, etc.…”

Understanding thermal conductance across multi-wall carbon nanotube contacts: Role of nanotube curvature

“…Within the specialized field of nanoelectronics, fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) based devices have attained consistent attention [1], partly due to their excellent electrical and thermal transport properties, which can be further tuned through chemical and structural modifications [2][3][4][5]. For example, metallic CNTs (especially multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)) have been used as percolation constituents in flexible traces, conductive solders and nanocomposites for desired electronic transport [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. However, despite a large number of potential nanoelectronic applications, the use of CNT devices has still been limited because of their unknown reliability and variation in performance, thus advocating the necessity of understanding the energy transfer and loss at device interconnects.…”

“…As electrons pass through and hop across different CNTs within these device components, inevitable heating due to dissipative losses at the interconnects (and/or the physical contacts) emerges as a performance-limiting bottleneck. Of particular interest to this study is the issue of thermal conductance across CNT contacts, which are often experimentally encountered in nanotube based flexible solders, adhesives and polymeric nanocomposite materials tailored for electronics applications [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Removal and Adsorption of p‐Nitrophenol from Aqueous Solutions Using Carbon Nanotubes and Their Composites

“…Due to the unique physicochemical and electrical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been widely used in the field of electronics [12][13][14], conducting materials [15,16], hydrogen storage [17,18], chemical sensors [19][20][21] as well as drug carriers [22,23], and so forth. Because of their high surface area and large micropore volume, CNTs are also considered as extremely good adsorbents [24].…”