In this paper the new concept of super-bridges, i.e. kilometre-long bridges suspended over carbon nanotube cables, is introduced. The analysis shows that the use of realistic (thus defective) carbon nanotube bundles as suspension cables can enlarge the current limit main span by a factor of 3.
In this paper different deterministic and statistical models, based on new quantized theories proposed by the author, are presented to estimate the strength of a real, thus defective, space elevator cable. The cable, of ~100 megameters in length, is composed by carbon nanotubes, ~100 nanometers long: thus, its design involves from the nano- to the mega-mechanics. The predicted strengths are extensively compared with the experiments and the atomistic simulations on carbon nanotubes available in the literature. All these approaches unequivocally suggest that the megacable strength will be reduce…
An investigation concerning the tautness of suspended carbon nanotubes (CNTs), grown using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is presented. The suspended nanotubes were analyzed with both a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and a high resolution scanning electron microscope (HR-SEM). The HR-SEM and TEM investigations revealed that the interactions between CNTs among themselves, and with the surface on which they are grown, is a primary cause for the tautness of suspended tubes. Specifically, the tube-tube and tube-surface dynamics cause adjoining tubes to create a zipper effect, …
We characterize the current-carrying capacity (CCC), or ampacity, of highly-conductive, light, and strong carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers by measuring their failure current density (FCD) and continuous current rating (CCR) values. We show, both experimentally and theoretically, that the CCC of these fibers is determined by the balance between current-induced Joule heating and heat exchange with the surroundings. The measured FCD values of the fibers range from 10$^7$ to 10$^9$ A/m$^2$ and are generally higher than the previously reported values for aligned buckypapers, carbon fibers, and CNT fibe…
Organic color centers in single-walled carbon nanotubes have demonstrated exceptional ability to generate single photons at room temperature in the telecom range. Combining the color centers with pristine air-suspended tubes would be desirable for improved performance, but all current synthetic methods occur in solution which makes them incompatible. Here we demonstrate formation of color centers in air-suspended nanotubes using vapor-phase reaction. Functionalization is directly verified on the same nanotubes by photoluminescence spectroscopy, with unambiguous statistics from more than a few …
A simple scalable scheme is reported for fabricating suspended carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNT-FETs) without exposing pristine as-grown carbon nanotubes to subsequent chemical processing. Versatility and ease of the technique is demonstrated by controlling the density of suspended nanotubes and reproducing devices multiple times on the same electrode set. Suspending the carbon nanotubes results in ambipolar transport behavior with negligible hysteresis. The Hooges constant of the suspended CNT-FETs (2.6 x 10-3) is about 20 times lower than for control CNT-FETs on SiO2 (5.6 x 10-2…
The photocurrent properties of freely suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are investigated as a function of uniaxial strain. We observe that at low strain, the photocurrent signal of the CNTs increases for increasing strain, while for large strain, the signal decreases, respectively. We interpret the non-monotonous behavior by a superposition of the influence of the uniaxial strain on the resistivity of the CNTs and the effects caused by Schottky contacts between the CNTs and the metal contacts.
Spiders suggest us that producing high strength over density ratio invisible cables could be of great importance. In this letter we show that such invisible cables could in principle be built, thanks to carbon nanotube bundles. Theoretical strength of about 10MPa, Young modulus of about 0.1GPa and density of 0.1Kg per cubic meter are estimated.
We describe a method to fabricate clean suspended single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) transistors hosting a single quantum dot ranging in length from a few 10s of nm down to $\approx$ 3 nm. We first align narrow gold bow-tie junctions on top of individual SWCNTs and suspend the devices. We then use a feedback-controlled electromigration to break the gold junctions and expose nm-sized sections of SWCNTs. We measure electron transport in these devices at low temperature and show that they form clean and tunable single-electron transistors. These ultra-short suspended transistors offer the prospe…
An oscillatory dependence of the drain current on the drain voltage is found in a nanostructure consisting of two crossing semiconductor carbon nanotubes that are suspended over a dielectric trench, which is backed by a doped silicon substrate that acts as a gate. Alternating positive and negative differential resistance regions are generated as a function of the drain source values and can be slightly shifted by the gate voltage. Moreover, the negative differential resistance is retrieved in a large bandwidth, of up to 100 MHz, when the structure is excited with ac signals.
We present results of wavelength-dependent ultrafast pump-probe experiments on micelle-suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes. The linear absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the samples show a number of chirality-dependent peaks, and consequently, the pump-probe results sensitively depend on the wavelength. In the wavelength range corresponding to the second van Hove singularities (VHSs), we observe sub-picosecond decays, as has been seen in previous pump-probe studies. We ascribe these ultrafast decays to intraband carrier relaxation. On the other hand, in the wavelength range corre…
We theoretically compute the interface thermal resistance between crossing single walled carbon nanotubes of various chiralities, using an atomistic Green's function approach with semi-empirical potentials. The results are then used to model the thermal conductivity of three dimensional nanotube pellets in vacuum. For an average nanotube length of 1 $μ$m, the model yields an upper bound for the thermal conductivity of densely compacted pellets, of the order of a few W/m-K. This is in striking contrast with the ultra-high thermal conductivity reported on individually suspended nanotubes. The re…
This work proposes new chemical and mechanical materials and techniques for III-V semiconductor NW/silicone membrane formation and optoelectronic device fabrication. Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-synthesized n-, p- and i-GaP NWs were encapsulated by introduced G-coating method into synthesized polydimethylsiloxane-graft-polystyrene and released from the Si growth substrate. The fabricated membranes were contacted with different materials including single-walled carbon nanotubes or ferrocenyl-containing polymethylhydrosiloxane with and without multi-walled carbon nanotubes doping. The electrical…
We study the optical properties of a single, semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) that is partially suspended across a trench and partially supported by a SiO2-substrate. By tuning the laser excitation energy across the E33 excitonic resonance of the suspended CNT segment, the scattering intensities of the principal Raman transitions, the radial breathing mode (RBM), the G-mode and the D-mode show strong resonance enhancement of up to three orders of magnitude. In the supported part of the CNT, despite a loss of Raman scattering intensity of up to two orders of magnitude, we reco…
Single air-suspended carbon nanotubes (length 2 - 5 microns) exhibit high optical quantum efficiency (7 - 20%) for resonant pumping at low intensities. Under ultrafast excitation, the photoluminescence dramatically saturates for very low injected exciton numbers (2 to 6 excitons per pulse per SWCNT). This PL clamping is attributed to highly efficient exciton-exciton annihilation over micron length scales. Stochastic modeling of exciton dynamics and femtosecond excitation correlation spectroscopy allow determination of nanotube absorption (2 - 6%) and exciton lifetime (85 +- 20 ps).
We demonstrate solution processable large area field effect transistors (FETs) from aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Commercially available, surfactant free CNTs suspended in aqueous solution were aligned between source and drain electrodes using ac dielectrophoresis technique. After removing the metallic nanotubes using electrical breakdown, the devices displayed p-type behavior with on-off ratios up to ~ 2X10^4. The measured field effect mobilities are as high as 123 cm2/Vs, which is three orders of magnitude higher than typical solution processed organic FET devices.
We study 23 to 30 nm long suspended single-wall carbon nanotube quantum dots and observe both their stretching and bending vibrational modes. We use low-temperature DC electron transport to excite and measure the tubes' bending mode by making use of a positive feedback mechanism between their vibrations and the tunneling electrons. In these nano-electro-mechanical-systems (NEMS), we measure fundamental bending frequencies $f_{bend}\approx$ 75 - 280 GHz, and extract quality factors $Q \sim 10^{6}$. The NEMS' frequencies can be tuned by a factor of two with tension induced by mechanical breakjun…
We report the existence of broad and weakly asymmetric features in the high-energy (G) Raman modes of freely suspended metallic carbon nanotubes of defined chiral index. A significant variation in peak width (from 12 cm-1 to 110 cm-1) is observed as a function of the nanotube's chiral structure. When the nanotubes are electrostatically gated, the peak widths decrease. The broadness of the Raman features is understood as the consequence of coupling of the phonon to electron-hole pairs, the strength of which varies with the nanotube chiral index and the position of the Fermi energy.
Nonlinear transmission of 80 and 140 femtosecond pulsed light with $0.79 μm$ wavelength through single walled carbon nanotubes suspended in water containing sodium dodecyl sulphate is studied. Pulse-width independent saturation absorption and negative cubic nonlinearity are observed, respectively, in open and closed aperture Z-scan experiments. The theoretical expressions derived to analyze the z-dependent transmission in the saturable limit require two photon absorption coefficient $β_0\sim$ $1.4 cm/MW$ and a nonlinear index $γ\sim -5.5 \times10^{-11} cm^2/W$ to fit the data.
Excess heat generated in integrated circuits is one of the major problems of modern electronics. Surface phonon-polariton scattering is shown here to be the dominant mechanism for hot charge carrier energy dissipation in a nanotube device fabricated on a polar substrate, such as $SiO_2$. Using microscopic quantum models the Joule losses were calculated for the various energy dissipation channels as a function of the electric field, doping, and temperature. The polariton mechanism must be taken into account to obtain an accurate estimate of the effective thermal coupling of the non-suspended na…
Adjudicating Conduction Mechanisms in High Performance Carbon Nanotube Fibers
Air Force Research Laboratory(空军研究实验室);University of Cincinnati(辛辛那提大学);University of West Georgia(佐治亚西部大学);University of California, Santa Barbara(加利福尼亚大学圣巴巴拉分校);National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory(洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室国家高磁场实验室);The Ohio State University(俄亥俄州立大学);University of Warsaw(华沙大学);Warsaw University of Technology(华沙理工大学);CIC nanoGUNE(nanoGUNE研究中心);Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science(伊克拉巴斯科,巴斯克科学基金会);University of Regensburg(雷根斯堡大学);Wrocław Tech(弗罗茨瓦夫科技大学)
The wafer scale integration of carbon nanotubes (CNT) remains a challenge for electronic and electromechanical applications. We propose a novel CNT integration process relying on the combination of controlled capillary assembly and buried electrode dielectrophoresis (DEP). This process enables to monitor the precise spatial localization of a high density of CNTs and their alignment in a pre-defined direction. Large arrays of independent and low resistivity (4.4 x 10^-5 Ω.m) interconnections were achieved using this hybrid assembly with double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT). Finally, arrays of …
Single-parameter adiabatic charge pumping, induced by a nearby radio-frequency antenna, is achieved in suspended carbon nanotubes close to the mechanical resonance. The charge pumping is due to an important dynamic adjustment of the oscillating motion to the antenna signal and it is different from the mechanism active in the two-parameter pumping. Finally, the second harmonic oscillator response shows an interesting relationship with the first harmonic that should be experimentally observed.