The rapid advancements in low-power portable/wearable electronic devices require concurrent development of technologies that can provide power without the need for bulky, heavy battery storage. Electronic ratchets, asymmetric transistor-based devices that can convert AC signals or electronic noise into DC power, have been proposed as one solution to this growing need. The recent demonstration of conjugated polymer-based electronic ratchets offers a route toward lightweight, flexible power sources for portable applications. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of the first electronic ratchets where the active channel component consists of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs), which can transform electronic noise or AC signals to a stable DC current with higher output power (up to ca. 14 mW for a chemically doped device) than their polymer-based analogs. We also show that patterning of the dopant profile in the s-SWCNT channel enables reasonable power conversion performance (ca. 3.5 mW) with improved stability relative to homogeneously doped devices. Our findings demonstrate the promise for s-SWCNT electronic ratchets as energy harvesting devices for portable, low-power applications.

中文翻译：

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高性能碳纳米管电子棘轮

低功耗便携式/可穿戴电子设备的快速发展需要同时开发能够提供电力而无需庞大、笨重的电池存储的技术。电子棘轮是一种基于不对称晶体管的设备，可以将交流信号或电子噪声转换为直流电源，已被提议作为满足这一日益增长的需求的一种解决方案。最近基于共轭聚合物的电子棘轮的演示为便携式应用提供了一种实现轻便灵活电源的途径。在这里，我们展示了第一个电子棘轮的制造，其中有源通道组件由半导体单壁碳纳米管 (s-SWCNT) 组成，它可以将电子噪声或交流信号转换为具有更高输出功率（高达约.14 mW（化学掺杂器件）比基于聚合物的类似物。我们还表明，s-SWCNT 通道中掺杂剂分布的图案化能够实现合理的功率转换性能（约3.5 mW），并且相对于均匀掺杂的器件具有更高的稳定性。我们的研究结果证明了 s-SWCNT 电子棘轮作为便携式低功耗应用的能量收集设备的前景。