Macroscopically Self-Aligned and Chiralized Carbon Nanotubes: From Filtration to Innovation

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in aligning and chiralizing carbon nanotubes at macroscopic scales, enabling their enhanced physical properties and applications in optoelectronics, through innovative assembly techniques and new architectures.

Contribution

It introduces new methods for macroscopic alignment and twisting of CNTs, creating novel chiral architectures and demonstrating their potential in optoelectronic devices.

Findings

Development of wafer-scale aligned CNT films

Creation of chiral CNT architectures with twisting mechanisms

Enhanced optoelectronic performance of aligned CNTs

Abstract

Because of their natural one-dimensional (1D) structure combined with intricate chiral variations, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit various exceptional physical properties, such as ultrahigh electrical and thermal conductivity, exceptional mechanical strength, and chirality-dependent metallicity. These properties make CNTs highly promising for diverse applications, including field-effect transistors, sensors, photodetectors, and thermoelectric devices. While CNTs excel individually at the nanoscale, their 1D and chiral nature can be lost on a macroscopic scale when they are randomly assembled. Therefore, the alignment and organization of CNTs in macroscopic structures is crucial for harnessing their full potential. In this review, we explore recent advancements in understanding CNT alignment mechanisms, improving CNT aligning methods, and demonstrating macroscopically 1D properties of ordered CNT assemblies. We also focus on a newly discovered class of CNT architectures, combining CNT alignment and twisting mechanisms to create artificial radial and chiral CNT films at wafer scales. Finally, we summarize recent developments related to aligned and chiral CNT films in optoelectronics, highlighting their unique roles in solar cells, thermal emitters, and optical modulators.