Carbon nanotube photoelectronic and photovoltaic devices and their applications in infrared detection

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are direct bandgap materials with outstanding electronic and optoelectronic properties and have been investigated for various electronic and optoelectronic device applications, such as light-emitting diodes, photodetectors and photovoltaic cells. Here, a brief review of the various types of CNT diodes is presented, with a focus on one particular type of CNT diodes fabricated via a doping-free process. Their application for constructing high-performance optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices is also discussed, as well as the newly discovered photovoltage multiplication effect in CNTs and its application in improving the efficiency of CNT-based infrared detector.