Plannar light source using a phosphor screen with single-walled carbon nanotubes as field emitters

Abstract

We developed and successfully fabricated a plannar light source device using a phosphor screen with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as field emitters in a simple diode structure composed of the cathode containing the highly purified and crystalline SWCNTs dispersed into an organic In2O3-SnO2 precursor solution and a non-ionic surfactant. The cathode was activated by scratching process with sandpaper to obtain a large field emission current with low power consumption. The nicks by scratching were treated with Fourier analysis to determine the periodicity of the surface morphology and designed with controlling the count number of sandpapers. The anode, on the other hand, was made with phosphor deliberately optimized by coverage of ITO nanoparticles and assembled together with the cathode by the new stable assembling process resulting to stand-alone flat plane-emission panel. The device in a diode structure has a low driving voltage and good brightness homogeneity in that plane. Furthermore, field emission current fluctuation, which is an important factor in comparing luminance devices too, has a good stability in a simple diode panel. The flat plane-emission device employing the highly purified and crystalline SWCNTs has the potential to provide a new approach to lighting in our life style.

A Review of Double-Walled and Triple-Walled Carbon Nanotube Synthesis and Applications

“…As an example, semiconducting SWNTs have been used to fabricate field-effect transistors (FET) [12][13][14]. As demonstrated by Misewich et al [12], optical emissions can be electrically induced from FETs (see Figure 2a,b).…”

“…Therefore, through a convenient selection of CNTs according to their (n, m) indexes, these FET devices could be tailored according to the desired emission wavelength. Moreover, such devices could be also used as light absorbers, photovoltaic cells and photo-current generators (see Figure 2c,d), for example [15][16][17][18][19][20]; all of them with performances directly relying on the specific (n, m) choices [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The bridge between theory and commercial applications, which is the focus of the study of researchers working with the synthesis of carbon nanotubes, was a major problem in the advancement and consolidation of CNTs as a "next generation" material [2].…”

Fabrication of Self-Assembling Carbon Nanotube Forest Fishnet Metamaterials

“…Moreover, in the external EM field, CNTs behave as almost ideal one-dimensional nanorod antennas with a diameter of a few nanometers and length up to hundreds of micrometers, while single-walled CNTs (SWNTs) exhibit behavior similar to direct gap semiconductors with absorption spectra dominated by exciton lines [ 16 ]. The experimental observations of CNTs showed that the nonlinear behavior is related to a high third-order susceptibility with a picosecond recovery rate, which has been utilized in various promising applications, such as nanoscale light sources, photovoltaic devices, lasers, and recently also in various metamaterial designs [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Reports regarding the combination of metamaterial and photonic design with CNTs were presented by several groups.…”

Electrically-driven carbon nanotube-based plasmonic laser on silicon

“…Light amplification in carbon nanotubes was experimentally demonstrated in the near-infrared wavelength range at cryo [3] and room temperatures [4], as a single photon emitter through dimensionality modification [5], by tuning the direct band-gap, controlling excitonic recombinations, and enabling exciton radiatively-decaying. Device examples of light emission from CNTs have previously demonstrated a p-n diode [6,7], tube to waveguidecoupling [8,9], flat plane-emission panels [10], and flexible light-emitting sources [11]. However, CNTs-based laser devices operating at a telecom wavelength, which are desired for on-chip optical interconnects, are not reported to date.…”