Boron-doped carbon nanotube coating for transparent, conducting, flexible photonic devices

Conducting transparent polymer materials were made by applying boron-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes to the surfaces of glass and flexible polyethylene terephthalate film substrates. Optical transmission and sheet resistance measurements showed that the boron-doped coated samples had sheet resistances of similar to 7 k Omega/square and flat optical transmission of similar to 89% for visible light. Temperature and humidity tests showed that the materials remained conductive after nearly 150 h of testing. The materials are robust and even maintain their conducting properties after being folded. Fabrication of a simple light emitting device demonstrates usage of the material as a flexible transparent electrode. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.