Photocurrent Properties of Freely Suspended Carbon Nanotubes under Uniaxial Strain

TL;DR

This study investigates how uniaxial strain affects the photocurrent in freely suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes, revealing a non-monotonous behavior linked to resistivity changes and contact effects.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the strain-dependent photocurrent behavior of suspended CNTs, combining experimental observations with interpretation of contact and resistivity effects.

Findings

Photocurrent increases with low strain

Photocurrent decreases at high strain

Non-monotonous behavior explained by resistivity and contact effects

Abstract

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.