Highly conductive and transparent films of HAuCl₄-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes for flexible applications

The rapid development of flexible and transparent electronics imposes growing demands on new highly conductive, optically transparent and mechanically robust materials. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are a unique material with diverse exceptional properties, which could be utilized in many fields of science and technology. We have synthesized high quality SWCNTs using an aerosol CVD method and examined doping technique to enhance their optoelectronic performance for transparent and conducting applications. We empirically selected the most effective dopant, HAuCl₄, dissolved in various solvents (ethanol, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone). We optimized the doping conditions and obtained the state-of-the-art sheet resistance value of as low as 40 Ω/□ at the transmittance of 90% at the wavelength of 550 nm.