Analysis of a laser post-process on a buckypaper field emitter for high and uniform electron emission

Abstract

This study reports a laser irradiation process to enhance the field emission properties of buckypaper, which is a thin sheet of high-loading carbon nanotube networks. The scanning laser treated the selected regions of buckypaper to activate carbon nanotube (CNT) emitters. This post-process causes a decrease in turn-on field and increases the field enhancement factor (beta), luminance intensity, and uniformity of buckypaper emitters. The phosphorescence luminance intensity and uniformity of buckypaper emitters are measured and characterized. The low turn-on field of 0.56 V microm(-1), highest average luminance intensity of 235.9/255, and uniformity of 99.8% are achieved by adjusting the machining parameters of laser power, laser lens motion speed, laser resolution, laser beam size, and pattern orientation. Those parameters relate to the field emission properties of beta, turn-on electric field, luminance intensity, and uniformity. Using design of experiment (DOE) methodology, the optimal parameter settings for high and uniform electron emission of a buckypaper emitter are obtained within fewer experimental runs.

Dielectric property determination of hybrid Al2O3-filled MWCNT buckypaper by the rectangular cavity perturbation technique

“…The modified procedure used in the current study for the fabrication of BP was adapted from previous reports [19,20]. This procedure involved dispersing MWCNTs in deionized (DI) water and stabilizing the solution by adding a nonionic surfactant, Triton-X-100.…”

Field Emission Cathodes to Form an Electron Beam Prepared from Carbon Nanotube Suspensions

“…This research had an impact on the development of a uniform and large area of FE electron sources formed in a simplified process like dip-coating, drop-casting, or filtration (Figure 5a,b) [98,[100][101][102][103], and finally screen printing (Figure 5c) [104][105][106], which is an established and well-known method for fine patterning, with increasing use for flexible electronics [107][108][109], including vacuum electronics [110,111]. The graph summarizing the techniques for the FE cathodes upon the alignment of the CNTs and the scalability is presented in Figure 6 (author's work).…”

“…Field emission from the sidewalls of CNTs: the voltage-current (I-V) characteristic of films made of CNTs aligned parallel, at 45°, and perpendicular to the substrate (reprinted with permission from[94]). This research had an impact on the development of a uniform and large area of FE electron sources formed in a simplified process like dip-coating, drop-casting, or filtration(Figure 5a,b)[97,[99][100][101][102], and finally screen printing(Figure 5c)[103][104][105], which is an established and well-known Uniform and large area FE cathodes: (a,b) SEM images of the buckypaper surface reprinted with permission from[101] (a) and reprinted with permission from[102] (b); (c) the emission image of the screen-printed FED (reprinted with permission from[104]). …”

Fabrication of Metal Alloy‐Deposited Flexible MWCNT Buckypaper for Thermoelectric Applications

“…The BP used in this study was fabricated using MWCNTs through vacuum filtration. The modified procedure used for fabricating the MWCNT BP was adopted from previous reports [18,19]. The MWCNTs were dispersed in distilled water and stabilized using Triton-X-100, a nonionic surfactant.…”