A Universal Method For High-Efficiency Immobilization Of Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes Toward Fully Printed Paper-Based Electronics

Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNTs) are promising candidates for constructing high-performance fully printed flexible thin film transistors (TFTs) and circuits. How to achieve highly dense and uniform SWCNT thin films on different substrates has become a key scientific issue for printed flexible carbon-based electronics. In this work, a universal method to efficiently immobilize conjugated polymer-sorted sc-SWCNTs on different substrates using solution-processable SiO2 thin film as the adhesion layer is developed. Fully printed top-gate SWCNT TFTs are successfully constructed by combining aerosol jet and inkjet printing using silver electrodes and ionic liquid-cross-linkable-poly(4-vinylphenol) as metal contact electrodes and dielectrics, respectively. Consequently, the fully printed paper-based SWCNT TFTs represent extraordinary mechanical flexibility and good electrical properties with high on/off ratio (higher than 10(5)), small subthreshold swing (approximate to 70 mV dec(-1)), and small hysteresis, as well as high carrier mobility (up to 10.8 cm(2) V-1 s(-1)) at low gate voltages (+/- 1 V). In addition, the resistor-loaded fully printed paper-based inverters are also achieved using printed carbon nanotube conductive lines as the loaded resistors, exhibiting relatively large gains (16 at V-DD of 1 V) and excellent mechanical flexibility. This work represents an encouraging advancement toward the practical applications of SWCNTs for high-performance, low-cost, and eco-friendly paper-based electronics.