Chemically doped, purified bulk multi-walled carbon nanotube conductors with enhanced AC conductivity to 40 GHz

Metals used in radio frequency (RF) communications technologies degrade in alternating current (AC) conductivity with frequency due to the skin effect. Bulk carbon nanotube (CNT) materials have demonstrated favorable trends such as constant or increasing AC conductivity, and are emerging as potential alternative conductors. However, the resistive inter-CNT junctions present in these bulk assemblies limit overall conductivity. In this work, a waveguide-based transmission technique is used to measure the AC conductivity from 10 to 40 GHz of a commercial multi-walled CNT (MWCNT) material modified by purification to remove carbon and iron impurities, and by chemical doping with potassium tetrabromoaurate (KAuBr4). Iron impurity removal yields a frequency-independent real AC conductivity. Laser thinning and solvent plying are employed to change transmission by altering the MWCNT sheet thickness, thus enabling accurate measurement of the KAuBr4-doped MWCNT samples. Doping of the purified MWCNTs yields enhanced real AC conductivity of ∼160 kS/m, which remains constant with frequency to 40 GHz and represents a 5–6 × improvement over the as-received material at 40 GHz. KAuBr4 doping is hypothesized to enhance AC conductivity by increasing carrier density, supported by the elevated plasma frequency determined from fitting of a generalized Drude conduction model to the AC conductivity data. [Display omitted] •Removal of Fe impurities from bulk MWCNT sheet promotes constant AC conductivity up to 40 GHz.•MWCNT laser thinning increases RF transmission and enables AC conductivity measurement of highly conductive doped samples.•KAuBr4 doping of purified bulk MWCNT sheet enhances AC conductivity by 3–4x while maintaining frequency independence.•Generalized Drude theory fits measured data suggesting upward plasma frequency shift and AC conductivity growth above 40 GHz.