Reducing Contact Resistance of Carbon Nanotubes by Doping of Nickel Nanoparticles

Background: In micro- and nano-electronic devices, there is often a high contact resistance between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and metals, which leads to the heating of electronic devices and the loss of a large amount of energy. Doping will be used to improve the electrical contact performance between CNTs and metals. Significance: A simple and low-cost electroless deposition technique is used to prepare nickel-doped carbon nanotubes (CNT-Ni) under different doping conditions and explore the influence of different nickel (Ni) doped samples on the electrical contact properties of CNTs. Methods: In this study, the transition metal Ni was chosen to prepare CNT-Ni by electroless deposition method using nickel chloride hexahydrate (NiCl2 center dot 6H(2)O) as a medium. The morphology and structure of treated CNTs were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectrometer, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectrometer (UPS). The contact resistance between CNTs and metals was measured by inductance capacitance resistance (LCR) tester. Result: The morphological characterization results showed that the incorporated Ni nanoparticles had moderate particle size and good combination with CNTs. The structural characterization indicated that the core component of the doped nanoparticles was transition metal element Ni, and the doping type was P-type, with the significantly increased work function of the doped CNTs. And the average value of the contact resistance between the Ni-doped CNTs and the gold electrode decreased by nearly 71.63%. Conclusion: This doping method can be used to effectively reduce the contact resistance between CNTs and metals. The research on the preparation of CNT-Ni is of practical significance in reducing the heating of electronic devices in practical use and then improving the performance and service life of devices.