Phototransistors Utilizing Printed Carbon Quantum Material

该项目将研究结合碳基量子材料优势和廉价环保打印技术的光电探测器。光电探测器在日常生活、工业、安全保障、通信和空间等方面都有广泛的应用。然而，量子设备通常是以非常小的数量制造的。对于现实生活中的应用来说，大量生产它们是很重要的，这样我们就可以在宏观范围内使用它们的一维特性。可印刷柔性和混合电子产品(FHE)能够以低成本制造无处不在的电子产品，例如柔性塑料基板上的传感器系统，从而使加拿大人的日常生活受益。该研究项目将重点研究具有碳纳米管(CNT)/聚合物共混通道的光电晶体管，利用喷墨打印作为一种可扩展的图案化薄膜沉积技术。碳纳米管是一种电子被限制的一维量子材料。当碳纳米管和聚合物在这些光电探测器的通道中时，聚合物吸收光子并将其转化为电荷，碳纳米管将电荷传输到终端。我们将研究印刷薄膜的形貌和干燥过程中碳纳米管的取向对共混界面和光电晶体管性能的影响。我们的假设是，碳纳米管的排列将影响光生载流子的传输，并可能影响碳纳米管/聚合物界面的电荷转移。该项目是德国卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院(KIT)和加拿大约克大学的研究人员合作完成的。该项目将分两个阶段进行，在德国仅用溶液处理的沟道材料制造光电晶体管并对其进行光电特性表征，在加拿大制造完全溶液处理的光电晶体管。我们相信，这个项目将是德国和加拿大更大规模合作的第一步，这将增加加拿大FHE行业在科技成果和学生培训方面利用量子材料制造电子产品的能力。

This project will study photodetectors that combine the advantages of carbon-based quantum materials and inexpensive and environmentally friendly printing techniques. Photodetectors are used in many aspects of everyday life, industry, safety and security, communication and space. However, quantum devices are often fabricated in very small quantities. It is important for real-life applications to produce them in larger quantities so that we can use their 1D properties on a macroscopic scale. Printable flexible and hybrid electronics (FHE) can benefit the everyday life of Canadians by enabling the low-cost manufacturing of ubiquitous electronics, for example, sensor systems on flexible plastic substrates. This research project will focus on studying phototransistors with a carbon nanotube (CNT)/ polymer blend channel utilizing inkjet printing as a scalable, patterned thin-film deposition technique. CNTs are a one-dimensional quantum material where electrons are confined. With CNTs and polymers in the channel of these photodetectors, the polymer absorbs the photons and converts them into electrical charges, and the CNTs transport charges to the terminals. We will study the effect of printed film morphology and CNT alignment during drying on the blend interfaces and phototransistor performance. Our hypothesis is that the CNT alignment will affect the transport of the photogenerated carriers and potentially charge transfer at the CNT/polymer interface. The project is a collaboration between researchers in Germany at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Canada at York University. The project will be carried out in two phases, fabricate and optoelectronically characterize phototransistors with only the channel material being solution-processed in Germany, and fabricate fully solution-processed phototransistors in Canada. We believe that this project will be the first step in a larger German-Canadian collaboration, which will add to the capacity of the Canadian FHE industry to utilize quantum materials for the manufacturing of electronics in terms of scientific and technological results and student training.