Electrical Transport in Carbon Nanotubes and Junction Conductance

In the study of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), we simulate the junction conductance within a tight-binding model approach. The interplay of intertube and intratube conductance as a function of temperature and CNT chirality explains the experimental measurements in CNT films of separated CNT chirality [1]. By using Anderson model, we were able to calculate the conductance in different types of CNTs. Our findings showed that intratube conductance dominates conductance in CNTs with small localization lengths. In the case of armchair CNTs, we find that at room temperature, phonon-assisted intertube junction conductance dominates the transport properties of the films. We performed a comprehensive study of the dependence of junction conductance on different factors, such as the angle between the CNTs, the twist angle, the sliding shift of the CNTs, the Fermi energy, and the applied bias voltage between CNTs [2]. Using a single geometrical fitting parameter, our calculations perfectly matched the temperature-dependent conductance measurements.<br/>[1] W. Gao, D. Adinehloo, X. Li, A. Mojibpour, Y. Yomogida, A. Hirano, T. Tanaka, H. Kataura, M. Zheng, V. Perebeinos, J. Kono, “Band structure-dependent electronic localization in macroscopic films of single-chirality single-wall carbon nanotubes”, Carbon 183, 774 (2021).<br/>[2] D. Adinehloo, W. Gao, A. Mojibpour, J. Kono, and V. Perebeinos, “Phonon-Assisted Intertube Electronic Transport in an Armchair Carbon Nanotube Film,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 176303 (2023).