A summary of Patterning of Single-Walled Carbon nanotube Films on flexible, transparent plastic substrates The article focused on using O2-plasma

technique in a capacitively couple plasma (CCP) system to pattern a single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) film on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). The SWCNT were fabricated by the vacuum filtration method. The patterning process includes photolithography and subsequent O2-plasma treatment. 1. Introduction

CNT films with many excellent properties of CNTs have been suitable for various applications. Many attempts have been made to pattern CNT films. However, these methods require complicated fabrication processes. The plasma etching technique is one of the CNT patterning techniques. CCP systems have some advantages which are suitable for use with polymer substrates such as PET and PMMA. SWCNTs films were patterned on plastic substrates by using an O2-plasma technique in a CCP system. An electrochemiluminescence (ECL) reaction were carried out on the patterned SWCNT films to confirm that it could function for use in electrodes. 2. Experimental section

a. Fabricating SWCNT films: vacuum filtration method SWCNT mixture sonicating 1 h centifuge 14 000 RPM/10 mins diluted by a factor of 50 with deionized water filtered through an anodic aluminum oxide membrane of 0.2 m pore size removing alumina membrane in 3 M NaOH transferred to PET after adjusting the solution to neutral pH. b. Patterning SWCNT films: Photolithography method Photoresist polymer (PR) was spin-coated onto SWCNT films at 1 500 RPM/1mins exposure to UV light (~365 nm) with designed mask developing with AZ400K solution. O2-plasma treatment in CCP system PR-prepatterned SWCNT films was placed between 14 x 14 in. radio-frequency plate electrodes performing in CCP system at 70 mTorr chamber pressure, power: 100-500 W,

substrate reflective frequency of 13.56 MHz for 1-5 mins removing PR by EtOH. The chemical properties of SWCNT films were investigated by SEM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) The electrical and optical properties were characterized by a four-probe setup and UV-vis spectroscopy. Three-electrode ECL reaction using CHI600C electrochemical analyzer Patterned SWCNT filmsworking electrode; Pt wirecounter electrode; Ag/AgCl electrode reference electrode. Mixture: 1 mM Ru(bpy)32+ and 5 mM tripropylamine (TPA) in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.0). Using chronoamperometry measurement at potential of 1.0 V. Using flouresent microscopy to collect the ECL signal beneath the SWCNT films. 3. Result and Discussion

Thickness of SWCNT films was controlled as ~100 nm for being most suitable resistivity and transparency (400 /sq and 80%). SWCNTs underneath the patterned PR polymer are protected from etching and damage by O2-plasma while exposed SWCNTs are destroyed. In SEM SWCNTs image the ordered SWCNTs are touching each other. In contrast, as the O2plasma treatment time increased, the morphology of SWCNTs changes into amorphous carbon. In XPS spectra, the the content of sp2 carbon decreased from 62.6% to 40.1% after plasma treatment, while the content of sp3 carbon increased from 19.1% to 26.4%-bonding among SWCNTs was brokenSWCNTs were converted to amorphous carbon (as shown in the SEM images). The resistivity of SWCNT film increased as the power increased. In comparison with pristine SWCNTs films, this increase indicates that the SWCNT films lost their conducting characteristics and become nonconducting. The transparency of the SWCNT film was about 79% before plasma treatment but improved to 86% with increasing treatment times. O2-plasma treatment increased the transparency of the SWCNT film to almost the original transparency of PET film. In the Ru(bpy)32+/TPA system, a strong reductant is generated during TPA oxidation that is able to react with the oxidized form of Ru(bpy)33+ to produce Ru(bpy)32+*. Electrochemical oxidation of TPA followed by spontaneous deprotonation of an oxidation product generates a

powerful reducing agent. Ru(bpy)32+ emits light at 620 nm when it relaxes to the ground state. The line scan of chemiluminescent signal has homogenous signal intensity, an the width of the line scan at each SWCNT electrode is the same as that of the patterned SWCNT electrode. This simple experiment indicates that the CCP system-based O2-plasma treatment can be successfully applied to pattern a SWCNT transparent electrode. 4. Conclusions

A CCP-based plasma technique can be used to pattern SWCNTs on flexible and transparent PET substrates. This technique offers high resolution and excellent reproducibility compared to other methods. When SWCNTs films were treated at 400 W for 5 min and at 500 W for 3 min, the resistivity of the SWCNT film increased dramatically until the electric percolation critical point. The transparency of SWCNT film improved up to 86% by increasing the treatment time at a power of 400 W. The SWCNT films patterned by this technique can be used successfully as flexible transparent electro-des as shown by the ECL reaction.