Ultrafast Photoconductivity of Graphene Nanoribbons and Carbon Nanotubes

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2013 papers

Abstract

We present a comparative study of the ultrafast photoconductivity in two different forms of one-dimensional (1D) quantum-confined graphene nanostructures: structurally well-defined semiconducting graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) fabricated by a "bottom-up" chemical synthesis approach and semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a similar bandgap energy. Transient photoconductivities of both materials were measured using time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy, allowing for contact-free measurements of complex-valued photoconductivity spectra with subpicosecond time-resolution. We show that, while the THz photoresponse seems very different for the two systems, a single model of free carriers experiencing backscattering when moving along the long axis of the CNTs or GNRs provides a quantitative description of both sets of results, revealing significantly longer carrier scattering times for CNTs (ca. 150 fs) than for GNRs (ca. 30 fs) and in turn higher carrier mobilities. This difference can be explained by differences in band structures and phonon scattering and the greater structural rigidity of CNTs as compared to GNRs, minimizing the influence of bending and/or torsional defects on the electron transport.

Related Papers

• → The effect of substrates on the Raman spectrum of graphene: Graphene- on-sapphire and graphene-on-glass(2007)250 cited
• → Orthotropic friction at the edges and interior of graphene and graphene fluoride and frictional anisotropy of graphene at the nanoscale(2021)1 cited
• A natural advantage? Using mined graphite to make graphene(2013)
• Synthesis and Characterisation of Graphene Single Sheets(2012)
• Unique synthesis of graphene-based materials for clean energy and biological sensing applications(2012)