Effect of a critical percolation threshold in purified short carbon nanotube-polymer/ZnS:Cu,Cl composite on electroluminescence

AC driven inorganic electroluminescence (EL) of the carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer/phosphor composite was fabricated to investigate the effect of the critical percolation threshold by CNT concentration on EL performance. In order to control the appropriate CNT condition in EL device, CNTs were shortened by cryogenic crushing and purified by thermal treatment. Among various CNT concentrations in the composite film, the critical percolation threshold can be found to be 0.0925 wt.% by fitting conductivity data of the composite film. Near the critical percolation threshold of a CNT concentration, the EL performances of the composite EL were greatly increased compared to the reference EL. The tunneling barrier thickness at the ZnS–Cu_xS contact could become thin to induce more charge carrier tunneling into ZnS host lattice by the local field enhancement of CNTs, resulting in increased electron–hole recombination to produce more light emission.