Russian and Finnish scientists fabricate ZnO ALD coated SWCNTs p-type field effect transistors

TASS reports: Russian scientists create carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide 

Researchers from Skoltech, Aalto University, and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have successfully demonstrated the technique of coating zinc oxide on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes, the SPbPU’s press-service said. Based on the new material, ambipolar field transistors have been maintained which may find their applications in logic circuits and memory cells.

Please find the abstract below to a joint publication in Nanotechnology.

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http://tass.com/science/916385

Single-walled carbon nanotubes coated with ZnO by atomic layer deposition

Partha P Pal, Evgenia Gilshteyn, Hua Jiang, Marina Timmermans, Antti Kaskela, Oleg V Tolochko, Alexey V Kurochkin, Maarit Karppinen, Mikko Nisula, Esko I Kauppinen and Albert G Nasibulin

Nanotechnology, Volume 27,Number 48 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/27/48/485709

The possibility of ZnO deposition on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with the help of an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique was successfully demonstrated. The utilization of pristine SWCNTs as a support resulted in a non-uniform deposition of ZnO in the form of nanoparticles. To achieve uniform ZnO coating, the SWCNTs first needed to be functionalized by treating the samples in a controlled ozone atmosphere. The uniformly ZnO coated SWCNTs were used to fabricate UV sensing devices. An UV irradiation of the ZnO coated samples turned them from hydrophobic to hydrophilic behaviour. Furthermore, thin films of the ZnO coated SWCNTs allowed us switch p-type field effect transistors made of pristine SWCNTs to have ambipolar characteristics.