Thermally-resilient, broadband optical absorber from UV-to-IR derived from carbon nanostructures and method of making the same
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsAnupama B. Kaul, James B. Coles
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A monolithic optical absorber and methods of making same. The monolithic optical absorber uses an array of mutually aligned carbon nanotubes that are grown using a PECVD growth process and a structure that includes a conductive substrate, a refractory template layer and a nucleation layer. Monolithic optical absorbers made according to the described structure and method exhibit high absorptivity, high site densities (greater than 109 nanotubes/cm2), very low reflectivity (below 1%), and high thermal stability in air (up to at least 400° C.). The PECVD process allows the application of such absorbers in a wide variety of end uses.
Claims20
A monolithic optical absorber, comprising:
- a conductive substrate having a surface;
- a template layer in contact with said surface of said conductive substrate, said template layer having a template layer surface;
- a nucleation layer in contact with said surface of said template layer, said nucleation layer having a nucleation layer surface;
- and
- an optical absorber layer comprising a carbon nanotube array in contact with said nucleation layer surface, said carbon nanotube array having a plurality of mutually aligned nanotubes with a site density of at least 1×1011 nanotubes/cm2.
A method of manufacturing a monolithic optical absorber, comprising the steps of:
- providing a conductive substrate having a surface;
- depositing on said surface of said conductive substrate a template layer having a template layer surface;
- depositing on said surface of said template layer a nucleation layer having a nucleation layer surface;
- and
- using a plasma deposition method, growing an optical absorber layer comprising a plurality of mutually aligned carbon nanotubes with a site density of at least 1×1011 nanotubes/cm2 on said surface of said nucleation layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.