Doping in carbon nanotubes probed by Raman and transport measurements

In situ Raman experiments together with transport measurements have been carried out on carbon nanotubes as a function of gate voltage. In metallic tubes, a large increase in the Raman frequency of the G(-) band, accompanied by a substantial decrease of its linewidth, is observed with electron or hole doping. In addition, we see an increase in the Raman frequency of the G(+) band in semiconducting tubes. These results are quantitatively explained using ab initio calculations that take into account effects beyond the adiabatic approximation. Our results imply that Raman spectroscopy can be used as an accurate measure of the doping of both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes.     

铬银氧共掺n型，p型特性氮化硼纳米管第一性原理研究

基于第一性原理的平面波超软赝势法对(6, 0)单壁氮化硼纳米管、Cr掺杂、Ag掺杂、以及Cr-O共掺纳米管进行电子结构和光学性质的计算。结果表明：Cr掺杂和Cr-O共掺体系相比于本征体系的带隙值均减小,掺杂体系的导带底穿过费米能级从而实现了氮化硼纳米管的n型掺杂。Ag掺杂实现了纳米管的p型掺杂。本征氮化硼纳米管、Ag掺杂、Cr掺杂、以及Cr-O共掺纳米管的静态介电常数分别为1.17、1.61、1.32和1.48,相对于本征体系静介电性能有所提高。     

Electro-optical properties of planar nematic cells impregnated with carbon nanosolids

We report electro-optical effects in planar-aligned liquid-crystal cells of pristine and doped calamitics in the presence of dc voltage. The doped cells comprise both a nematic host and a minute amount of either buckminsterfullerene or multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The voltage–transmittance and voltage–capacitance hystereses were observed from the sample cells in the range of applied dc voltage up to 8 V. Experimental evidence indicates that a nanoscale carbon dopant can affect the behavior of a nematic in terms of ion-charge effects and that doping with nanotubes can effectively reduce the driving voltage.     

Effect of uniaxial tensile strength on the electrical properties of doped carbon nanotubes: Density functional theory

We investigated the effect of uniaxial tensile strength on a pristine carbon nanotube, boron-doped carbon nanotube, nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube and co-doped carbon nanotube with boron and nitrogen atoms. To achieve our goal, we performed our calculations with the aid of density functional theory. We studied the changes in the electrical properties after the atomic substitution of a carbon atom by boron, nitrogen, and boron and nitrogen in pristine carbon nanotubes. We also applied uniaxial tensile strength to doped structures as well as pristine one. In addition to studying the band gap, we studied the changes in the Fermi energy, valence bands, and conduction bands. We found that defects as well as stress and strain play a crucial rule on modifying the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes.     

掺杂对碳纳米管拉曼光谱及场发射性能的影响

采用高温热解法在860℃分别制备出了镓、氮以及硼和氮掺杂的碳纳米管,提纯后利用丝网印刷工艺分别将它们制备成薄膜,并测试了它们的拉曼光谱与场发射性能。测试结果表明,掺杂纳米管的缺陷密集度比纯碳纳米管明显增大,而它们的场致电子发射性能则与掺杂元素的性质密切相关。镓和氮掺杂的纳米管均具有非常优异的场发射性能,而硼和氮共掺杂的纳米管的场发射性能很差。掺杂引起碳纳米管费米能级附近能态密度的变化及功函数的降低是其具有优异场致电子发射性能的主要原因。     

Amphoteric and controllable doping of carbon nanotubes by encapsulation of organic and organometallic molecules

By using first principles calculations, we show that fine tuning of both p- and n-type doping can be realized on single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) by tuning the electron affinity or ionization potential of the organic and organometallic molecules encapsulated inside SWNTs. This novel type of SWNT-based material offers great promise for molecular electronics because of its air stability, synthetic simplicity and the abundance of organic and organometallic molecules.     

重碳掺杂p型GaAs中纵光学声子与等离振子耦合模的Raman散射特性

对用MOMBE法生长的重C掺杂p型GaAs进行了Raman散射研究,结合理论分析,较好地解释了p型GaAs中纵光学(LO)声子与空穴等离振子耦合(LOPC)模的Raman散射特性,证明它具有与n型状态不同的特点,根据实验结果讨论了重掺杂对Raman散射谱的影响,发现LOPC模的散射峰特征(位置和宽度)与重掺杂效应程度具有很大关系。     

Nonadiabatic Kohn anomaly in a doped graphene monolayer

We compute, from first principles, the frequency of the E(2g), Gamma phonon (Raman G band) of graphene, as a function of the charge doping. Calculations are done using (i) the adiabatic Born-Oppenheimer approximation and (ii) time-dependent perturbation theory to explore dynamic effects beyond this approximation. The two approaches provide very different results. While the adiabatic phonon frequency weakly depends on the doping, the dynamic one rapidly varies because of a Kohn anomaly. The adiabatic approximation is considered valid in most materials. Here, we show that doped graphene is a spectacular example where this approximation miserably fails.     

拉曼光谱研究掺杂与非掺杂碳纳米管电子性质的新进展(英文)

本文综述了非掺杂和掺杂碳纳米管拉曼光谱研究的新进展,特别注意到了悬浮液中单个分散的单壁纳米管、硼和氮掺杂的纳米管、碱金属插入的纳米管以及用化学方法功能化的单壁纳米管的拉曼光谱与其电子性质的相关性。讨论了所存在的问题,展望了可能的发展方向。     

Influence of Electron–Phonon Interaction on the Lattice Thermal Conductivity in Single-Crystal Si

Lattice thermal conductivity can be reduced by introducing point defect, grain boundary, and nanoscale precipitates to scatter phonons of different wave-lengths, etc. Recently, the effect of electron–phonon (EP) interaction on phonon transport has attracted more and more attention, especially in heavily doped semiconductors. Here the effect of EP interaction in n-type P-doped single-crystal Si has been investigated. The lattice thermal conductivity decreases dramatically with increasing P doping. This reduction on lattice thermal conductivity cannot be explained solely considering point defect scattering. Further, the lattice thermal conductivity can be fitted well by introducing EP interaction into the modified Debye–Callaway model, which demonstrates that the EP interaction can play an important role in reducing lattice thermal conductivity of n-type P-doped single-crystal Si.     

B、N单掺杂3C-SiC电子结构和光学性质的第一性原理研究

采用第一性原理的密度泛函理论赝势平面波方法,计算了未掺杂与B、N单掺杂3C-SiC的电子结构和光学性质.结果表明:掺杂改变了3C-SiC费米面附近的电子结构;B掺杂使得禁带宽度减小,价带顶上移,费米能级进入价带,形成p型半导体;N掺杂使得禁带宽度减小,导带底下移,费米能级进入导带,形成n型半导体.B、N掺杂均提高了3C-SiC在低能区的折射率、消光系数和吸收系数,增强了对红外光谱的吸收.     

Synthesis and comparative study of optical and electrical properties of Au-doped carbon nanotubes prepared in different reaction media

We introduce the synthesis, characterization and physical properties of gold (Au) doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in different reaction media. In order to dope MWCNTs with Au nanoparticles (NPs), first functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) were prepared. The reduction of gold (III) chloride trihydrate for synthesizing Au NPs in the presence of f-MWCNTs was performed by using sodium citrate as a reducing agent. The produced nanocomposites were characterized using FTIR, XRD and TEM analyses to explore their chemical structures and morphologies. All of the samples have been characterized by TGA and resultantly, the composite made into ethylene glycol exhibited the most concentration of Au NPs into the composite network. This work probes the optical characteristics, such as UV–vis absorption, and optical band gap. Hall effect analyses declared some pleasing variations in electrical characteristics. Remarkably, the n-type doping of Au NPs in the p-type MWCNTs’ network led to a downshift of the Fermi level. This process increased the doped samples electrical conductivity. The results indicated that modification of MWCNTs with Au NPs has generally an important role in decreasing the band gap and increasing the electrical activity of MWCNTs. Our research outcomes provide a new vision into how different reaction media could affect the characteristics of MWCNT/Au nanocomposites. We discovered that ethylene glycol could be considered as a perfect reaction medium for preparation of high-quality doped CNTs with excellent physical properties. Our effort opens up the door to far more investigations on the role of the reaction medium in products’ characteristics.     

Variation of the electronic properties of zigzag boron nitride nanotubes by Al-doping: a DFT study

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are semiconductors with a wide band gap. In comparison with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), BNNTs have higher chemical stability, excellent mechanical properties and higher thermal conductivity. In this paper, we study the effect of diameters and substituting B and N atoms of various zigzag BNNTs with Al, on structural and electronic properties of BNNTs in solid state using the density functional theory method. The results of calculations of density of states and band structure (band) showed that the band gap between the valence and conduction level increases as a result of the enhancement of tube diameter of BNNTs. Finally, the results showed that the electronic properties of the pristine BNNTs can be improved by doping Al atom in the zigzag configuration of tubes.     

Reciprocal space constraints create real-space anomalies in doped carbon nanotubes

When graphite is doped with electrons, carbon-carbon bonds lengthen and Raman-active phonons soften as antibonding states fill. However, in semiconducting carbon nanotubes, one Raman-active G-band mode increases in frequency at low doping levels. We show how phase constraints on the conduction-band wave function expose a latent bonding character in the conduction band of certain nanotubes. In these tubes, filling the lowest conduction band shortens the axial bonds even as it lengthens the circumferential bonds. The A{1}{LO} phonon, which preferentially stretches the axial bonds, then hardens even as the other phonons soften. Quantum confinement eliminates the angular averaging taken for granted in higher-dimensional systems and develops a new class of states, neither bonding nor antibonding, whose character depends on the angular orientation of the bonds in question.     

First-principles study of metallic carbon nanotubes with boron/nitrogen co-doping

Using the first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic band structure and the quantum transport properties of metallic carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) with B/N pair co-doping. The results about formation energy show that the B/N pair co-doping configuration is a most stable structure. We find that the electronic structure and the transport properties are very sensitive to the doping concentration of the B/N pairs in MCNTs, where the energy gaps increase with doping concentration increasing both along the tube axis and around the tube, because the mirror symmetry of MCNT is broken by doping B/N pairs. In addition, we discuss conductance dips of the transmission spectrum of doped MCNTs. These unconventional doping effects could be used to design novel nanoelectronic devices.     

High-energy phonon branches of an individual metallic carbon nanotube

We present excitation-energy dependent Raman measurements between 2.05 and 2.41 eV on the same individual carbon nanotube. We find a change in the Raman frequencies of both the D mode (63 cm(-1)/eV) and the high-energy modes. The observed frequencies of the modes at approximately 1600 cm(-1) as a function of laser-energy map the phonon dispersion relation of a metallic tube near the Gamma point of the Brillouin zone. Our results prove the entire first-order Raman spectrum in single-wall carbon nanotubes to originate from double-resonant scattering. Moreover, we confirm experimentally the phonon softening in metallic tubes by a Peierls-like mechanism.     

Effect of boron and nitrogen co-doping on CNT's electrical properties: Density functional theory

In this work, we have theoretically studied the changes in electrical properties of three different geometrical structures of carbon nanotubes upon co-doping them with boron and nitrogen atoms. We applied different doping mechanisms to study band structure variations in the doped structures. Doping carbon nanotubes with different atoms will create new band levels in the band structure and as a consequence, a shift in the Fermi level occurs. Whereas, filling up the lowest conduction/ upper valence bands created an up/ downshift in the Fermi level. Moreover, dopants concentration and dopants position play a critical rule in defining the number of new band levels. These new band levels in the band gap region represented as new peaks appeared in the density of states. These new bands are solely attributed to co-doping carbon nanotubes with boron and nitrogen atoms.     

Density functional theory study of the electronic and field emission properties of nitrogen- and boron-doped carbon nanocones

Using first-principles density functional theory, we have investigated the electronic and field emission properties of carbon nanocones (CNCs) doped with N or B with 60° disclination. Our findings are that the emission properties for the doped CNCs depend on the doping species, position, and concentration. Compared to pristine CNC, N-doped CNCs exhibit better field emission properties, in which as the doping concentration increases from 1.25% to 2.5% the maximum emission current at applied electric field of 0.3 V/Å increases from 0.94 μA (one N atom is doped at the position adjacent to the pentagon) to 2.90 μA (two N atoms are doped at pentagon). As for pristine CNC the emission current is only 0.21 μA. However, B-doping has no significant influence on the emission properties of CNCs. Our findings suggest that N-doped CNCs can be used as a candidate for cold-emission electron sources.     

Boron/nitrogen pairs Co-doping in metallic carbon nanotubes: a first-principle study

By using the first-principles calculations, the electronic structure and quantum transport properties of metallic carbon nanotubes with B/N pairs co-doping have been investigated. It is shown that the total energies of metallic carbon nanotubes are sensitive to the doping sites of the B/N pairs. The energy gaps of the doped metallic carbon nanotubes decrease with decreasing the concentration of the B/N pair not only along the tube axis but also around the tube. Moreover, the I--V characteristics and transmissions of the doped tubes are studied. Our results reveal that the conducting ability of the doped tube decreases with increasing the concentrations of the B/N pairs due to symmetry breaking of the system. This fact opens a new way to modulate band structures of metallic carbon nanotubes by doping B/N pair with suitable concentration and the novel characteristics are potentially useful in future applications.     

Phonon softening in individual metallic carbon nanotubes due to the Kohn Anomaly

We have studied the line shape and frequency of the G band Raman modes in individual metallic single walled carbon nanotubes (M-SWNTs) as a function of Fermi level (epsilonF) position, by tuning a polymer electrolyte gate. Our study focuses on the data from M-SWNTs where explicit assignment of the G- and G+ peaks can be made. The frequency and line shape of the G- peak in the Raman spectrum of M-SWNTs is very sensitive to the position of the Fermi level. Within +/- variant Planck's over 2piomega/2 (where variant Planck's over 2piomega is the phonon energy) around the band crossing point, the G- mode is softened and broadened. In contrast, as the Fermi level is tuned away from the band crossing point, a semiconductinglike G band line shape is recovered both in terms of frequency and linewidth. Our results confirm the predicted softening of the A-symmetry LO phonon mode frequency due to a Kohn anomaly in M-SWNTs.