Fabrication of highly conductive and transparent thin films from single-walled carbon nanotubes using a new non-ionic surfactant via spin coating.

Oligothiophene-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) was synthesized and used as a non-ionic and amphiphilic surfactant for fabricating high-quality single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films by a simple spin coating method. The absence of charge repulsion between SWCNT/surfactant complexes successfully leads to formation of a dense network of SWCNTs on the substrate through a single deposition of spin coating. When the SWCNT film was treated with nitric acid and thionyl chloride after washed with dichloromethane and water, a high-performance SWCNT film with the sheet resistance of 59 ohm/sq and the transparency of 71% at 550 nm was successfully obtained. Since the SWCNT film exhibits a high value of σ(dc)/σ(ac) (∼17) and excellent dimensional stability after releasing from the substrate, the film can be used as a transparent electrode in flexible optoelectronic devices.