Spirally Wrapped Carbon Nanotube Microelectrodes for Fiber Optoelectronic Devices beyond Geometrical Limitations toward Smart Wearable E-Textile Applications

Abstract

Fiber optoelectronics technology has recently attracted attention as enabling various form factors of wearable electronics, and the issue of how to control and optimize the configuration and physical properties of the electrode micro-patterns in the microfiber devices has become important. Here, spirally wrapped carbon nanotube (CNT) microelectrodes with a controlled dimension are demonstrated for high-performance fiber optoelectronic devices. Inkjet-printed CNT micro-electrodes with the desired dimension on an agarose hydrogel template are rolling-transferred onto a microfiber surface with an efficient electrical interface. A fiber organic field-effect transistor with spirally wrapped CNT microelectrodes verifies the feasibility of this strategy, where the transferred micro electrodes intimately contact the organic semiconductor active layer and the output current characteristics are simply controlled, resulting in characteristics that exceed the previous structural limitations. Furthermore, a fiber organic photodiode with spirally wrapped CNT microelectrodes, when used as a transparent electrode, exhibits a high I-light/I-dark ratio and good durability of bending. This fiber photodiode can be successfully incorporated into a textile photoplethysmography bandage for the real-time monitoring of human vital signals. This work offers a promising and efficient strategy to overcome the geometric factors limiting the performance of fiber-optic optoelectronic devices.