Issue 10, 2021

High-performance carbon nanotube electronic ratchets

Abstract

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.

Graphical abstract: High-performance carbon nanotube electronic ratchets

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Jul 2021
Accepted
20 Aug 2021
First published
02 Sep 2021

Energy Environ. Sci., 2021,14, 5457-5468

Author version available

High-performance carbon nanotube electronic ratchets

J. Hao, S. U. Nanayakkara, E. J. Tervo, J. L. Blackburn and A. J. Ferguson, Energy Environ. Sci., 2021, 14, 5457 DOI: 10.1039/D1EE02048J

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