Growth of single-crystalline SmB₆nanowires and their temperature-dependent electron field emission

Abstract

A facile catalysis-free method has been utilized to synthesize functional samarium hexaboride (SmB6) nanowires. Structural characterization shows that the nanowires are single-crystalline SmB6 with the [1 0 0] growth direction. These nanowires exhibit a low turn-on electric field of 4.2 V µm−1 based on the 10 µA cm−2 current density criterion at room temperature (RT). The effect of temperature on the field emission properties of the SmB6 nanowires has also been investigated. The turn-on field of the SmB6 nanowires is found to decrease from 4.2 to 2.7 V µm−1 (at 10 µA cm−2); meanwhile, the estimated field enhancement factor increases from 2207 to 4741 clearly with an increase from RT to 573 K. This dependence might be due to the change in the effective work function of the nanowires with temperature.

SmB 6 nanoparticles: Synthesis, valence states, and magnetic properties

“…Hatnean et al have prepared the large sized and high quality SmB 6 single crystal by floating zone method [18]. SmB 6 nanowires are prepared by the liquid Sm (melting point of 1072 ) reacting with BCl 3 gas at a temperature of 1100 [19]. SmB 6 powders are prepared by a solid state reaction of Sm sources with B or B 4 C at a high temperature of 1650 o C [20].…”

The Growth Methods and Field Emission Studies of Low-Dimensional Boron-Based Nanostructures

“…The temperature-dependent FE properties of LD boron-based nanostructure film also attract researchers' interest because of which care about their practical applications. Y. M. Zhao et al [35,37,49] compared the temperature-dependent FE properties among several REB 6 NW films. As shown in Figure 7a,b, the research results show that the FE current density of rare-earth hexaboride (LaB 6 , SmB 6 , and PrB 6 ) NW film at 573 K increases to be about 10 times larger than that of it at room temperature.…”

“…Among numerous LD nanostructure candidates, boron-based nanostructures are believed as ideal cold cathode nanomaterials [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] because they not only can meet the above requirements for FE current. For example, boron monoelement nanotube (NT) structures [24] have been proven to have metallic conductivity whether their chirality belongs to armchair or zigzag, which are very beneficial for actual FE applications.…”

Growth Mechanism of SmB6 Nanowires Synthesized by Chemical Vapor Deposition: Catalyst-Assisted and Catalyst-Free

“…SmB 6 nanowires have been synthesized by heating Sm with BCl 3 in the ambient of H 2 and Ar [12]. However, the surface of SmB 6 nanowires prepared in this way is covered by a layer with the thickness of ~10 nm, which is not suitable to evaluate their surface conduction.…”