Nanojunction Material Effect on the Photoelectric Response of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Rectennas

Lina Tizani; Yawar Abbas; Baker Mohammad; Moh'd Rezeq

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c05605

Nanojunction Material Effect on the Photoelectric Response of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotube Rectennas

ACS Omega. 2021 Dec 13;6(51):35692-35698. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c05605. eCollection 2021 Dec 28.

Authors

Lina Tizani^{1

2}, Yawar Abbas^{3

2}, Baker Mohammad^{1

2}, Moh'd Rezeq^{3

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 127788, UAE.
² System on Chip Center, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 127788, UAE.
³ Department of Physics, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi 127788, UAE.

Abstract

To optimize the performance of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based rectennas, we have studied the effect of metal work function on the photodetection characteristics. Two materials of conducting nanoprobes, namely, gold (Au) and platinum (Pt), have been used to form a rectifying diode at the interface with the CNT. The electrical and optical characteristics of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) dispersed on top of a SiO₂/Si substrate have been investigated using a conductive mode atomic force microscope (C-AFM). The I-V measurements performed for both diodes have exhibited an explicit rectification behavior with high sensitivity of a CNT-based rectenna to light. It has been observed that the lower work function metal (Au) leads to a higher on/off current ratio than the high work function metal (Pt). These experimental observations will be explained using the material characterization of the complete system along with representative energy-band diagrams.