Photoinduced currents in carbon nanotube/metal heterojunctions

Abstract

Significant photoinduced currents have been explored in carbon nanotube/metal heterojunctions, i.e., heterodimension junctions containing macrolong carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The experimental measurements clearly show that the net transport direction of the photoexcited electrons is from the lower dimensional CNTs to higher dimensional CNTs or metal electrodes and the photoinduced currents dramatically depend on the laser spot position relative to the junction interface. The currents increase linearly with the increase of the laser intensity as the intensity is not very large. A prototype sensor has been constructed to illustrate applications of the heterodimension junctions in photoelectronics.