Field Emission Properties of the Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Synthesized by Arc-Discharge Method

Abstract

The field emission properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes with purity higher than 70%,which were produced by dc arc discharge evaporation of a carbon electrode including 1% Fe catalyst in H2-Ar mixture gas was studied.The single-wall carbon nanotubes that were produced by this method possess high a ‘clean’ surface since the coexisting Fe catalyst nanoparticles can be completely eliminated by a two-step purification process.The field emission properties was verified by measuring the emission current density(J) versus the applied electric field(E), the corresponding Fowler-Nordheim(F-N) plot for the sample.Through looking at the emission photos, the uniformity of field emission is found to be excellent.

Investigation of Field Emission Properties of Carbon Nanotube Arrays of Different Morphologies

“…Today, there are many methods to grow CNTs on various substrates [19]. Among them are the electric arc methods [20,21], laser ablation [22], and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [23,24]. It is known that the DC PECVD (direct-current plasma-enhanced CVD) method is the most reliable method with the best controllability of the geometrical parameters for growing CNT arrays [25].…”