Florian Jakubka

Enhanced ambipolar charge injection with semiconducting polymer/carbon nanotube thin films for light-emitting transistors.

We investigate the influence of small amounts of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) dispersed in polyfluorenes such as poly(9,9-di-n-octylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole (F8BT) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (F8) on device characteristics of bottom contact/top gate ambipolar light-emitting field-effect transistors (LEFETs) based on these conjugated polymers. We find that the presence of SWNTs within the semiconducting layer at concentrations below the percolation limit significantly increases both hole and electron injection, even for a large band gap semiconductor like F8, without leading to significant luminescence quenching of the conjugated polymer. As a result of the reduced contact resistance and lower threshold voltages, larger ambipolar currents and thus brighter light emission are observed. We examine possible mechanisms of this effect such as energy level alignment, reduced bulk resistance above the contacts, and field-enhanced injection at the nanotube tips. The observed ambipolar injection improvement is applicable to most conjugated polymers in staggered transistor configurations or similar organic electronic devices where injection barriers are an issue.

Mapping charge transport by electroluminescence in chirality-selected carbon nanotube networks.

We demonstrate random network single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) in bottom contact/top gate geometry with only five different semiconducting nanotube species that were selected by dispersion with poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) in toluene. These FETs are highly ambipolar with balanced hole and electron mobilities and emit near-infrared light with narrow peak widths (<40 meV) and good efficiency. We spatially resolve the electroluminescence from the channel region during a gate voltage sweep and can thus trace charge transport paths through the SWNT thin film. A shift of emission intensity to large diameter nanotubes and gate-voltage-dependent photoluminescence quenching of the different nanotube species indicates excitation transfer within the network and preferential charge accumulation on small band gap nanotubes. Apart from applications as near-infrared emitters with selectable emission wavelengths and narrow line widths, these devices will help to understand and model charge transport in realistic carbon nanotube networks.

Trion Electroluminescence from Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes

Near-infrared emission from semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) usually results from radiative relaxation of excitons. By binding an additional electron or hole through chemical or electrochemical doping, charged three-body excitons, so-called trions, are created that emit light at lower energies. The energy difference is large enough to observe weak trion photoluminescence from doped SWNTs even at room temperature. Here, we demonstrate strong trion electroluminescence from electrolyte-gated, light-emitting SWNT transistors with three different polymer-sorted carbon nanotube species, namely, (6,5), (7,5) and (10,5). The red-shifted trion emission is equal to or even stronger than the exciton emission, which is attributed to the high charge carrier density in the transistor channel. The possibility of trions as a radiative relaxation pathway for triplets and dark excitons that are formed in large numbers by electron-hole recombination is discussed. The ratio of trion to exciton emission can be tuned by the applied voltages, enabling voltage-controlled near-infrared light sources with narrow line widths that are solution-processable and operate at low voltages (<3 V).

Self-Ordered Hexagonal Nanoporous Hafnium Oxide and Transition to Aligned HfO2 Nanotube Layers

We show that hexagonally ordered HfO 2 structures can either be grown to form a self-ordered pore or tube array, depending only on the electrochemical conditions during anodization of Hf in fluoride containing electrolytes. The water content in the electrolyte is the main factor affecting the transition from pores to tubes and the regularity of the structures. In the self-ordered nanoporous anodic hafnia layers, the cell diameters can be adjusted from 40 to 120 nm controlled by the applied voltage and a tube/pore length of ∼ 20 μm can be reached.

Light-emitting polymer/carbon nanotube hybrid transistors - below and above the percolation limit

Hybrids of semiconducting polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are interesting for organic electronic devices such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors (FETs). They are easily produced by selective dispersion of SWNTs in polymer solutions by ultrasonication followed by centrifugation. We demonstrate that nanotubes at concentration levels well below the percolation limit significantly improve charge injection of both holes and electrons into semiconducting polymers in top-gate FETs. This leads to lower contact resistances and reduced threshold voltages, thus the maximum ambipolar currents and visible light emission due to electron-hole recombination are considerably enhanced. The improved injection of holes and electrons allows for a much wider range of accessible polymers for ambipolar and light-emitting transistors. The same conjugated polymers can also be used to enrich specific semiconducting SWNT and to produce high-performance ambipolar nanotube network FETs. These show efficient nearinfrared electroluminescence. Mapping the emission from these networks during a gate voltage sweep allows us to visualize preferential current paths and investigate percolation models for purely semiconducting nanotube networks.