Carbon nanotube pillar arrays for achieving high emission current densities

Silan, Jeremy L.; Niemann, D.; Ribaya, Bryan P.; Rahman, M. M.; Meyyappan, M.; Nguyen, Cattien V.

doi:10.1063/1.3216584

Cited by 35 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…These results are also consistent with previous reports. 11,22 Therefore, the lowest turn-on field and threshold field are observed at 0.73 and 1.29 V/μm, correspondingly, for the densified pillars with the height of 30 μm and interspacing of 60 μm, which also possess the highest field enhancement factor β of 7671.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Field-Emission Characteristics of the Densified Carbon Nanotube Pillars Array

Wang

Liao

Cheng

2016

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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In this study, the densification effects of carbon nanotube (CNT) pillar array have been proved to significantly increase the field emission characteristics. Without damage to the crystallinity of CNTs, the CNT density of each densified pillar can be increased about 6.25 times as compared to the as-grown ones. Consequently, the densified CNT pillars exhibit higher electrical conductivity, better contacts, and more emission sites, which are favorable to the field emission properties. What's more, the optimum field emission characteristics occur at the condition of R/H = 2 with H = 30 μm for both of the as-grown and densified samples because of the minimum screening effect and the proper aspect ratio. Therefore, the field emitter with densified CNT pillars of 30-μm in height and 60-μm in interspacing possesses the lowest turn on and threshold fields of 0.73 and 1.29 V/μm, respectively. It implies that the densified CNT pillars are promising for the field-emission applications. Field emission lighting (FEL) has emerged as a leading contender in lighting technologies, because it combines the conventional features of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and flat panels. The field emitters provide cold electrons to bombard phosphors in an anode plate to generate high luminance. In the last decade, various one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials with high aspect ratio have been intensively investigated for field emitter arrays (FEAs) 1-3 Among these candidates, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) 4-9 have attracted a great deal of attention as an electron-emitting material owing to their high aspect ratio, high thermal conductivity, large current capability, chemical inertness, and high mechanical strength. 10In general, the field-emission (FE) characteristics for an individual CNT are considered to be better than that for the CNT films because of avoiding the screen effect. For an individual CNT, the extremely high aspect ratio is ideal for the electron emission. What's more, the optimal ratio of intertube distance to the CNT height for an individual CNT was reported by Nilsson et al. 11 to be 2 for FE characteristics. But Suh et al.12 also reported that the FE characteristics of a CNT film should be enhanced with increasing CNT height. Therefore, it is critical to control the CNT height and intertube distance to get the optimal FE characteristic in unit area. However, it is very difficult to grow very long distinct vertically-aligned CNT and precisely control the intertube distance for the individual CNTs. Thus, the CNT pillar structures are generally used for the practical purposes since it is easy to control the height and spacing between the pillars, which can effectively reduce the screen effect as compared to the CNT film structure.In recent years, people used the capillary force during the evaporation of liquids to effectively pull the CNTs together, which can significantly improve the properties of the CNT forests. For instance, De Volder et al. 13 used this mechanism to demonstrate better mechanical stiffness and electrical conductiv...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7. 22,23 On the other hand, the optimum field emission characteristics occur at the condition of R/H = 2, i.e. the CNT pillar height H = 30 μm with the interspacing R = 60 μm, for both of as-grown and densified samples.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field-Emission Characteristics of the Densified Carbon Nanotube Pillars Array

Wang

Liao

Cheng

2016

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…(10) into Eq. (11) and taking the inverse Fourier transform gives the solution of the periodic potential (excluding u = v = w = 0 from the sum).…”

Section: Quantity Propertymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Charged nanoparticles have been modeled using a hard-sphere approach [9] and deposited onto a patterned surface in the presence of an applied electric field [10]. Nevertheless, the fabrication of conducting nanostructures, say carbon nanotube superconducting devices [11], requires the understanding of the electrostatic properties of isolated nanoscale systems [12].…”

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confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation of electrostatic interactions in nanoscale substances based on finite-size particle simulation

Chang

2010

Physics Letters A

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“…Previously we have demonstrated that CNT pillar arrays (CPAs) offer a practical solution for the fabrication of stable and easy to manufacture CNT cathodes. A CNT pillar is described as a uniform, highly dense, vertically aligned, compact bundle of CNTs [13]. Vertical self-alignment of CNTs results from the van der Waals interaction between neighboring CNTs and contributes to the excellent structural stability of CNT pillars [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%