ACS Publications. Most Trusted. Most Cited. Most Read
CONTENT TYPES

System Message

The ACS Publications site will be temporarily unavailable for planned maintenance on Friday, Oct. 15 starting at 6:00 pm ET for up to 4 hours. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Direct Identification of Metallic and Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in Scanning Electron Microscopy

View Author Information
State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics & Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
*Tel +86 10 62796017; fax +86 10 62792457; e-mail [email protected]
Cite this: Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 8, 4095–4101
Publication Date (Web):June 25, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1021/nl301561f
Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society
Article Views
3384
Altmetric
-
Citations
LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICS
Read OnlinePDF (4 MB)

Abstract

Abstract Image

Because of their excellent electrical and optical properties, carbon nanotubes have been regarded as extremely promising candidates for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, effective and efficient distinction and separation of metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are always challenges for their practical applications. Here we show that metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes on SiO2 can have obviously different contrast in scanning electron microscopy due to their conductivity difference and thus can be effectively and efficiently identified. The correlation between conductivity and contrast difference has been confirmed by using voltage-contrast scanning electron microcopy, peak force tunneling atom force microscopy, and field effect transistor testing. This phenomenon can be understood via a proposed mechanism involving the e-beam-induced surface potential of insulators and the conductivity difference between metallic and semiconducting SWCNTs. This method demonstrates great promise to achieve rapid and large-scale distinguishing between metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes, adding a new function to conventional SEM.

Cited By


This article is cited by 48 publications.

  1. Maoshuai He, Shuchen Zhang, Jin Zhang. Horizontal Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Arrays: Controlled Synthesis, Characterizations, and Applications. Chemical Reviews 2020, 120 (22) , 12592-12684. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00395
  2. Feng Yang, Meng Wang, Daqi Zhang, Juan Yang, Ming Zheng, Yan Li. Chirality Pure Carbon Nanotubes: Growth, Sorting, and Characterization. Chemical Reviews 2020, 120 (5) , 2693-2758. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.9b00835
  3. Chang Liu and Hui-Ming Cheng . Controlled Growth of Semiconducting and Metallic Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2016, 138 (21) , 6690-6698. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b00838
  4. Imad Ibrahim, Jana Kalbacova, Vivienne Engemaier, Jinbo Pang, Raul D. Rodriguez, Daniel Grimm, Thomas Gemming, Dietrich R. T. Zahn, Oliver G. Schmidt, Jürgen Eckert, and Mark H. Rümmeli . Confirming the Dual Role of Etchants during the Enrichment of Semiconducting Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes by Chemical Vapor Deposition. Chemistry of Materials 2015, 27 (17) , 5964-5973. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b02037
  5. Jie Zhang, Wei Lu, Yize Stephanie Li, Jinhua Cai, and Liwei Chen . Dielectric Force Microscopy: Imaging Charge Carriers in Nanomaterials without Electrical Contacts. Accounts of Chemical Research 2015, 48 (7) , 1788-1796. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.5b00046
  6. P. Tchoulfian, F. Donatini, F. Levy, A. Dussaigne, P. Ferret, and J. Pernot . Direct Imaging of p–n Junction in Core–Shell GaN Wires. Nano Letters 2014, 14 (6) , 3491-3498. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl5010493
  7. Jiangtao Wang, Tianyi Li, Bingyu Xia, Xiang Jin, Haoming Wei, Wenyun Wu, Yang Wei, Jiaping Wang, Peng Liu, Lina Zhang, Qunqing Li, Shoushan Fan, and Kaili Jiang . Vapor-Condensation-Assisted Optical Microscopy for Ultralong Carbon Nanotubes and Other Nanostructures. Nano Letters 2014, 14 (6) , 3527-3533. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl5016969
  8. Yujun He, Jin Zhang, Dongqi Li, Jiangtao Wang, Qiong Wu, Yang Wei, Lina Zhang, Jiaping Wang, Peng Liu, Qunqing Li, Shoushan Fan, and Kaili Jiang . Evaluating Bandgap Distributions of Carbon Nanotubes via Scanning Electron Microscopy Imaging of the Schottky Barriers. Nano Letters 2013, 13 (11) , 5556-5562. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl403158x
  9. Silvy Mathew, D. K. Tiwari, Dhananjay Tripathi. Interaction of carbon nanotubes with plant system: a review. Carbon Letters 2021, 31 (2) , 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00195-1
  10. Hasna Hena Zamal, David Barba, Brahim Aïssa, Emile Haddad, Federico Rosei. Failure analysis of self-healing epoxy resins using microencapsulated 5E2N and carbon nanotubes. Smart Materials and Structures 2021, 30 (2) , 025011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-665X/abd005
  11. Asit Behera, Jisheng Pan, Ajit Behera. Temperature nanosensors for smart manufacturing. 2021,,, 249-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-823358-0.00013-7
  12. Hasna Hena Zamal, David Barba, Brahim Aïssa, Emile Haddad, Federico Rosei. Recovery of electro-mechanical properties inside self-healing composites through microencapsulation of carbon nanotubes. Scientific Reports 2020, 10 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59725-6
  13. Wei Zhao, Peng Liu, Kaili Jiang. High-throughput methods for evaluating the homogeneity of carbon nanotubes and graphene. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2020, 53 (40) , 403001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ab95bb
  14. Xiao Zhang, Ying Deng, Brian Graves, Michael De Volder, Adam Boies. Precise Catalyst Production for Carbon Nanotube Synthesis with Targeted Structure Enrichment. Catalysts 2020, 10 (9) , 1087. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10091087
  15. Lele Wang, Bosai Lyu, Qiang Gao, Jiajun Chen, Zhe Ying, Aolin Deng, Zhiwen Shi. Near-Field Optical Identification of Metallic and Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Chinese Physics Letters 2020, 37 (2) , 028101. https://doi.org/10.1088/0256-307X/37/2/028101
  16. Alfonso Maiellaro, Francesco Romeo, Roberta Citro. Topological phases of a Kitaev tie. The European Physical Journal Special Topics 2020, 229 (4) , 637-646. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2019-900180-x
  17. A. P. Kuz’menko, Tet P’o Naing, A. E. Kuz’ko, M’o Min Tan. The Influence of Electric Fields on Self-Organization Processes in an Ultradispersed Solution of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Technical Physics 2020, 65 (2) , 254-263. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063784220020127
  18. Abdulaziz S. R. Bati, LePing Yu, Munkhbayar Batmunkh, Joseph G. Shapter. Synthesis, purification, properties and characterization of sorted single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nanoscale 2018, 10 (47) , 22087-22139. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NR07379A
  19. Jiangtao Wang, Xiang Jin, Zebin Liu, Guo Yu, Qingqing Ji, Haoming Wei, Jin Zhang, Ke Zhang, Dongqi Li, Zi Yuan, Jiachen Li, Peng Liu, Yang Wu, Yang Wei, Jiaping Wang, Qunqing Li, Lina Zhang, Jing Kong, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. Growing highly pure semiconducting carbon nanotubes by electrotwisting the helicity. Nature Catalysis 2018, 1 (5) , 326-331. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-018-0057-x
  20. Jin Zhang, Kenan Zhang, Bingyu Xia, Yang Wei, Dongqi Li, Ke Zhang, Zhixing Zhang, Yang Wu, Peng Liu, Xidong Duan, Yong Xu, Wenhui Duan, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. Carbon-Nanotube-Confined Vertical Heterostructures with Asymmetric Contacts. Advanced Materials 2017, 29 (39) , 1702942. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201702942
  21. Wei Zhao, Dongqi Li, Wenyun Wu, Jin Zhang, Bingyu Xia, Peng Liu, Yang Wei, Kaili Jiang. High throughput methods for evaluating the homogeneity of nanomaterials for nanoelectronics. 2017,,, 47-48. https://doi.org/10.1109/NMDC.2017.8350497
  22. Dongqi Li, Yang Wei, Jin Zhang, Jiangtao Wang, Yinghong Lin, Peng Liu, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. Direct discrimination between semiconducting and metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes with high spatial resolution by SEM. Nano Research 2017, 10 (6) , 1896-1902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1372-7
  23. Florent Seichepine, Jörg Rothe, Alexandra Dudina, Andreas Hierlemann, Urs Frey. Dielectrophoresis-Assisted Integration of 1024 Carbon Nanotube Sensors into a CMOS Microsystem. Advanced Materials 2017, 29 (17) , 1606852. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201606852
  24. Dongqi Li, Jin Zhang, Yujun He, Yan Qin, Yang Wei, Peng Liu, Lina Zhang, Jiaping Wang, Qunqing Li, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. Scanning electron microscopy imaging of single-walled carbon nanotubes on substrates. Nano Research 2017, 10 (5) , 1804-1818. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1505-7
  25. Jin Zhang, Yang Wei, Fengrui Yao, Dongqi Li, He Ma, Peng Lei, Hehai Fang, Xiaoyang Xiao, Zhixing Lu, Juehan Yang, Jingbo Li, Liying Jiao, Weida Hu, Kaihui Liu, Kai Liu, Peng Liu, Qunqing Li, Wei Lu, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. SWCNT-MoS 2 -SWCNT Vertical Point Heterostructures. Advanced Materials 2017, 29 (7) , 1604469. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201604469
  26. Rufan Zhang, Yingying Zhang, Fei Wei. Horizontally aligned carbon nanotube arrays: growth mechanism, controlled synthesis, characterization, properties and applications. Chemical Society Reviews 2017, 46 (12) , 3661-3715. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CS00104E
  27. Yudan Zhao, Dongqi Li, Lin Xiao, Junku Liu, Xiaoyang Xiao, Guanhong Li, Yuanhao Jin, Kaili Jiang, Jiaping Wang, Shoushan Fan, Qunqing Li. Radiation effects and radiation hardness solutions for single-walled carbon nanotube-based thin film transistors and logic devices. Carbon 2016, 108 , 363-371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2016.07.033
  28. Mehmet Copuroglu, Deniz Caliskan, Hikmet Sezen, Ekmel Ozbay, Sefik Suzer. Location and Visualization of Working p-n and/or n-p Junctions by XPS. Scientific Reports 2016, 6 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32482
  29. Kamil Janeczek. Composite Materials for Application in Printed Electronics. 2016,,, 1-43. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119242666.ch1
  30. Jingfeng Huang, Hu Chen, Lin Jing, Derrick Fam, Alfred Iing Yoong Tok. Improved synthesis and growth of graphene oxide for field effect transistor biosensors. Biomedical Microdevices 2016, 18 (4) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-016-0092-9
  31. Xiaogang Yang, Yan’ge Zhang, Guodong Wu, Congxu Zhu, Wei Zou, Yuanhao Gao, Jie Tian, Zhi Zheng. Nanoelectrical investigation and electrochemical performance of nickel-oxide/carbon sphere hybrids through interface manipulation. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2016, 469 , 287-295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2016.02.031
  32. Hasan-al Mehedi, Johann Ravaux, Khadija Yazda, Thierry Michel, Saïd Tahir, Michaël Odorico, Renaud Podor, Vincent Jourdain. Increased chemical reactivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes on oxide substrates: In situ imaging and effect of electron and laser irradiations. Nano Research 2016, 9 (2) , 517-529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0933-5
  33. Geoffrey R. Mitchell, Donatella Duraccio, Imran Khan, Aurora Nogales, Robert Olley. Crystallization in Nanocomposites. 2016,,, 69-100. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39322-3_3
  34. Muqiang Jian, Huanhuan Xie, Qi Wang, Kailun Xia, Zhe Yin, Mingyu Zhang, Ningqin Deng, Luning Wang, Tianling Ren, Yingying Zhang. Volatile-nanoparticle-assisted optical visualization of individual carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials. Nanoscale 2016, 8 (27) , 13437-13444. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6NR01379A
  35. Huiliang Wang, Zhenan Bao. Conjugated polymer sorting of semiconducting carbon nanotubes and their electronic applications. Nano Today 2015, 10 (6) , 737-758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2015.11.008
  36. Lixing Kang, Yue Hu, Hua Zhong, Jia Si, Shuchen Zhang, Qiuchen Zhao, Jingjing Lin, Qingwen Li, Zhiyong Zhang, Lianmao Peng, Jin Zhang. Large-area growth of ultra-high-density single-walled carbon nanotube arrays on sapphire surface. Nano Research 2015, 8 (11) , 3694-3703. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0869-9
  37. Deniz Caliskan, Hikmet Sezen, Ekmel Ozbay, Sefik Suzer. Chemical Visualization of a GaN p-n junction by XPS. Scientific Reports 2015, 5 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14091
  38. Wenyun Wu, Jingying Yue, Xiaoyang Lin, Dongqi Li, Fangqiang Zhu, Xue Yin, Jun Zhu, Jiangtao Wang, Jin Zhang, Yuan Chen, Xinhe Wang, Tianyi Li, Yujun He, Xingcan Dai, Peng Liu, Yang Wei, Jiaping Wang, Wei Zhang, Yidong Huang, Li Fan, Lina Zhang, Qunqing Li, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. True-color real-time imaging and spectroscopy of carbon nanotubes on substrates using enhanced Rayleigh scattering. Nano Research 2015, 8 (8) , 2721-2732. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0779-x
  39. Yue Hu, Lixing Kang, Qiuchen Zhao, Hua Zhong, Shuchen Zhang, Liangwei Yang, Zequn Wang, Jingjing Lin, Qingwen Li, Zhiyong Zhang, Lianmao Peng, Zhongfan Liu, Jin Zhang. Growth of high-density horizontally aligned SWNT arrays using Trojan catalysts. Nature Communications 2015, 6 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7099
  40. C. Herrero-Latorre, J. Álvarez-Méndez, J. Barciela-García, S. García-Martín, R.M. Peña-Crecente. Characterization of carbon nanotubes and analytical methods for their determination in environmental and biological samples: A review. Analytica Chimica Acta 2015, 853 , 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2014.10.008
  41. Qiuchen Zhao, Jin Zhang. Characterizing the Chiral Index of a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube. Small 2014, 10 (22) , 4586-4605. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201401567
  42. Yabin Chen, Yingying Zhang, Yue Hu, Lixing Kang, Shuchen Zhang, Huanhuan Xie, Dan Liu, Qiuchen Zhao, Qingwen Li, Jin Zhang. State of the Art of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Synthesis on Surfaces. Advanced Materials 2014, 26 (34) , 5898-5922. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201400431
  43. Huang Jingfeng, Melanie Larisika, Chen Hu, Steve Faulkner, Myra A. Nimmo, Christoph Nowak, Alfred Tok Iing Yoong. Complete coverage of reduced graphene oxide on silicon dioxide substrates. Chinese Physics B 2014, 23 (8) , 088104. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-1056/23/8/088104
  44. Yujun He, Dongqi Li, Tianyi Li, Xiaoyang Lin, Jin Zhang, Yang Wei, Peng Liu, Lina Zhang, Jiaping Wang, Qunqing Li, Shoushan Fan, Kaili Jiang. Metal-film-assisted ultra-clean transfer of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nano Research 2014, 7 (7) , 981-989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0460-9
  45. Chia-Chi Chang, Chun-Yung Chi, Chun-Chung Chen, Ningfeng Huang, Shermin Arab, Jing Qiu, Michelle L. Povinelli, P. Daniel Dapkus, Stephen B. Cronin. Carrier dynamics and doping profiles in GaAs nanosheets. Nano Research 2014, 7 (2) , 163-170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0383-x
  46. Jingfeng Huang, Derrick Fam, Qiyuan He, Hu Chen, Da Zhan, Steve H. Faulkner, Myra A. Nimmo, Alfred Iing Yoong Tok. The mechanism of graphene oxide as a growth template for complete reduced graphene oxide coverage on an SiO 2 substrate. J. Mater. Chem. C 2014, 2 (1) , 109-114. https://doi.org/10.1039/C3TC31529K
  47. Alvin W. Orbaek, Andrew R. Barron. Complications pertaining to the detection and characterization of individual and embedded single walled carbon nanotubes by scanning electron microscopy. Nanoscale 2013, 5 (7) , 2790. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3nr00142c
  48. Jingfeng Huang, Melanie Larisika, W. H. Derrick Fam, Qiyuan He, Myra A. Nimmo, Christoph Nowak, I. Y. Alfred Tok. The extended growth of graphene oxide flakes using ethanol CVD. Nanoscale 2013, 5 (7) , 2945. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3nr33704a

Pair your accounts.

Export articles to Mendeley

Get article recommendations from ACS based on references in your Mendeley library.

Pair your accounts.

Export articles to Mendeley

Get article recommendations from ACS based on references in your Mendeley library.

You’ve supercharged your research process with ACS and Mendeley!

STEP 1:
Click to create an ACS ID

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID.

MENDELEY PAIRING EXPIRED
Your Mendeley pairing has expired. Please reconnect

This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. By continuing to use the site, you are accepting our use of cookies. Read the ACS privacy policy.

CONTINUE