Transparent Organic P-Dopant in Carbon Nanotubes: Bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide

Abstract

We propose bis(trifluromethanesulfonyl)imide [(CF3SO2)(2)N](-) (TFSI) as a transparent strong electron withdrawing p-type dopant in carbon nanotubes(CNTs) The conventional p-dopant, AuCl3, has several, drawbacks, such as hygroscopic effect, formation of Au clusters, decrease in transmittance, and high cost In spite of the significant increase in conductivity TFSI is converted from bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amine (TFSA) by 1 accepting electrons from CNTs, subsequently losing a proton as a characteristic of a Bronsted acid, and has an inductive effect from atoms with high electronegativity, such as halogen, oxygen, and nitrogen TFSI produced a, similar improvement in conductivity to AuCl3,,while maintaining high thermal stability, and no appreciable change in transmittance with no cluster formation The effectiveness of TFSI was compared with that of other derivatives