Giga-Gain at Room Temperature in Functionalized Carbon Nanotube Phototransistors Based on a Nonequilibrium Mechanism

ACS Nano
Kevin Bergemann, François Léonard

Abstract

Achieving high gain in a photodetector is critical to detect weak light fields because of the need to amplify the signal. Here, we report the observation of a gain exceeding 109 for a phototransistor composed of an array of aligned semiconducting carbon nanotubes functionalized with a nanoscale layer of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT). In contrast to the expectation based on simple band alignments, the phototransistor operates by transferring holes between the P3HT and the CNT, trapping negative charge near the nanotubes. This mechanism leads to an integrating detector that is shown to detect as little as 490 aW and to resolve as few as 8-13 photons/nanotube at room temperature. A detailed experimental and theoretical investigation of the mechanism shows that the phototransistor is most sensitive when prepared in a nonequilibrium state.

References

Feb 12, 2009·Nano Letters·Xinjian ZhouAndrew L Vance
Dec 30, 2010·Nano Letters·Benoit C St-AntoineRichard Martel
Aug 15, 2012·Nano Letters·Francesco MarsiliKarl K Berggren
Mar 4, 2014·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Yongho JooPadma Gopalan
Oct 7, 2014·Nature Nanotechnology·F H L KoppensM Polini
Jul 6, 2016·ACS Nano·Shuang LiangLian-Mao Peng
Sep 13, 2016·Science Advances·Gerald J BradyMichael S Arnold
Mar 27, 2018·ACS Omega·Daichi SuzukiYukio Kawano

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