Worldwide commercial interest in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reflected in a production capacity that presently exceeds several thousand tons per year. Currently, bulk CNT powders are incorporated in diverse commercial products ranging from rechargeable batteries, automotive parts, and sporting goods to boat hulls and water filters. Advances in CNT synthesis, purification, and chemical modification are enabling integration of CNTs in thin-film electronics and large-area coatings. Although not yet providing compelling mechanical strength or electrical or thermal conductivities for many applications, CNT yarns and sheets already have promising performance for applications including supercapacitors, actuators, and lightweight electromagnetic shields.

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Carbon Nanotubes: Present and Future Commercial Applications

We present the science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems, targeting an evolution in technology, that might lead to impacts and benefits reaching into most areas of society. This roadmap was developed within the framework of the European Graphene Flagship and outlines the main targets and research areas as best understood at the start of this ambitious project. We provide an overview of the key aspects of graphene and related materials (GRMs), ranging from fundamental research challenges to a variety of applications in a large number of sectors, highlighting the steps necessary to take GRMs from a state of raw potential to a point where they might revolutionize multiple industries. We also define an extensive list of acronyms in an effort to standardize the nomenclature in this emerging field.

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Science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems

Newness and distinctiveness is claimed in the features of ornamentation as shown inside the broken line circle in the accompanying representation.

Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface

Advanced energy conversion and storage (ECS) devices (including fuel cells, photoelectrochemical water splitting cells, solar cells, Li-ion batteries and supercapacitors) are expected to play a major role in the development of sustainable technologies that alleviate the energy and environmental challenges we are currently facing. The successful utilization of ECS devices depends critically on synthesizing new nanomaterials with merits of low cost, high efficiency, and outstanding properties. Recent progress has demonstrated that nanostructured metal chalcogenides (MCs) are very promising candidates for efficient ECS systems based on their unique physical and chemical properties, such as conductivity, mechanical and thermal stability and cyclability. In this review, we aim to provide a summary on the liquid-phase synthesis, modifications, and energy-related applications of nanostructured metal chalcogenide (MC) materials. The liquid-phase syntheses of various MC nanomaterials are primarily categorized with the preparation method (mainly 15 kinds of methods). To obtain optimized, enhanced or even new properties, the nanostructured MC materials can be modified by other functional nanomaterials such as carbon-based materials, noble metals, metal oxides, or MCs themselves. Thus, this review will then be focused on the recent strategies used to realize the modifications of MC nanomaterials. After that, the ECS applications of the MC/modified-MC nanomaterials have been systematically summarized based on a great number of successful cases. Moreover, remarks on the challenges and perspectives for future MC research are proposed (403 references).

Nanostructured metal chalcogenides: synthesis, modification, and applications in energy conversion and storage devices

Flexible electronics offer a wide-variety of applications such as flexible circuits, flexible displays, flexible solar cells, skin-like pressure sensors, and conformable RFID tags. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a promising material for flexible electronics, both as the channel material in field-effect transistors (FETs) and as transparent electrodes, due to their high intrinsic carrier mobility, conductivity, and mechanical flexibility. In this feature article, we review the recent progress of CNTs in flexible electronics by describing both the processing and the applications of CNT-based flexible devices. To employ CNTs as the channel material in FETs, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are used. There are generally two methods of depositing SWNTs on flexible substrates—transferring CVD-grown SWNTs or solution-depositing SWNTs. Since CVD-grown SWNTs can be highly aligned, they often outperform solution-processed SWNT films that are typically in the form of random network. However, solution-based SWNTs can be printed at a large-scale and at low-cost, rendering them more appropriate for manufacturing. In either case, the removal of metallic SWNTs in an effective and a scalable manner is critical, which must still be developed and optimized. Nevertheless, promising results demonstrating SWNT-based flexible circuits, displays, RF-devices, and biochemical sensors have been reported by various research groups, proving insight into the exciting possibilities of SWNT-based FETs. In using carbon nanotubes as transparent electrodes (TEs), two main strategies have been implemented to fabricate highly conductive, transparent, and mechanically compliant films—superaligned films of CNTs drawn from vertically grown CNT forests using the “dry-drawing” technique and the deposition or embedding of CNTs onto flexible or stretchable substrates. The main challenge for CNT based TEs is to fabricate films that are both highly conductive and transparent. These CNT based TEs have been used in stretchable and flexible pressure, strain, and chemical and biological sensors. In addition, they have also been used as the anode and cathode in flexible light emitting diodes, solar cells, and supercapacitors. In summary, there are a number of challenges yet to overcome to optimize the processing and performance of CNT-based flexible electronics; nonetheless, CNTs remain a highly suitable candidate for various flexible electronic applications in the near future.

A review of fabrication and applications of carbon nanotube film-based flexible electronics

Ion-exchange chemistry can be used to fabricate arrays of individually positioned carbon nanotubes with a density as high as 109 cm−2.

High-density integration of carbon nanotubes via chemical self-assembly

There are numerous studies on the growth of planar films on sp(2)-bonded two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. However, it has been challenging to grow single-crystalline films on 2D materials due to the extremely low surface energy. Recently, buffer-assisted growth of crystalline films on 2D layered materials has been introduced, but the crystalline quality is not comparable with the films grown on sp(3)-bonded three-dimensional materials. Here we demonstrate direct van der Waals epitaxy of high-quality single-crystalline GaN films on epitaxial graphene with low defectivity and surface roughness comparable with that grown on conventional SiC or sapphire substrates. The GaN film is released and transferred onto arbitrary substrates. The post-released graphene/SiC substrate is reused for multiple growth and transfer cycles of GaN films. We demonstrate fully functional blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by growing LED stacks on reused graphene/SiC substrates followed by transfer onto plastic tapes.

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Principle of direct van der Waals epitaxy of single-crystalline films on epitaxial graphene

The slow-down in traditional silicon complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) scaling (Moore’s law) has created an opportunity for a disruptive innovation to bring the semiconductor industry into a postsilicon era. Due to their ultrathin body and ballistic transport, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have the intrinsic transport and scaling properties to usher in this new era. The remaining challenges are largely materials-related and include obtaining purity levels suitable for logic technology, placement of CNTs at very tight (∼5 nm) pitch to allow for density scaling and source/drain contact scaling. This review examines the potential performance advantages of a CNT-based computing technology, outlines the remaining challenges, and describes the recent progress on these fronts. Although overcoming these issues will be challenging and will require a large, sustained effort from both industry and academia, the recent progress in the field is a cause for optimism that these materials can have an impact on fut...

Toward High-Performance Digital Logic Technology With Carbon Nanotubes

Building energy performance evaluation of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window with semi-transparent solar cells

The performance of optimized graphene devices is ultimately determined by the quality of the graphene itself. Graphene grown on copper foils is often wrinkled, and the orientation of the graphene cannot be controlled. Graphene grown on SiC(0001) via the decomposition of the surface has a single orientation, but its thickness cannot be easily limited to one layer. We describe a method in which a graphene film of one or two monolayers grown on SiC is exfoliated via the stress induced with a Ni film and transferred to another substrate. The excess graphene is selectively removed with a second exfoliation process with a Au film, resulting in a monolayer graphene film that is continuous and single-oriented.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/342/6160/833.full.pdf

Hongsik Park

Papers

High-density integration of carbon nanotubes via chemical self-assembly

Principle of direct van der Waals epitaxy of single-crystalline films on epitaxial graphene

Toward High-Performance Digital Logic Technology With Carbon Nanotubes

Building energy performance evaluation of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window with semi-transparent solar cells

Layer-Resolved Graphene Transfer via Engineered Strain Layers