Transparent conducting carbon nanotubes thin films on the flexible substrate

Abstract

This study investigated the application of single-wall carbon nanotubes( SWCNTs) on transparent conducting film. The SWCNTs films deposited on the flexible substrate using dip-coating. The major issue was studying the time and temperature of sulfuric acid effect on the pretreatment of SWCNTs. The post-treatment of etching dispersion and how to affect the optical and sheet resistance were always considered. The results showed that the sheet resistance of SWCNTs under 12 hrs pretreatment was higher than that without pretreatment, but over 12hrs the sheet resistance was lower than that without pretreatment. The sheet resistance of SWCNTs over 120°C pretreatment temperature was higher than that of pristine, but the sheet resistance of SWCNTs below 120°C pretreatment temperature was lower than that of pristine. Simultaneously, the dispersion combined with the functional group consisting of acetic acid (-OOH) could make SWCNTs to be more dispersion than before. Pretreatment of sulfuric acid at temperature of 120°C and time of 24 hrs had the good performance on optical and electricity for SWCNTs film. And the sheet resistance of SWCNTs film could reach 781 Ω/sq at transmittance of 70%. This study investigated the mechanism of the pretreatment of the dispersing and acid destroying for SWCNTs. An optimized acid pretreatment was used to improve the transparent and electricity on the flexible substrate with SWCNTs.