Influences of Electrode Configuration on the Electron Emission Properties of Multu-walled Carbon Nanotubes

N.H Tai, C.Y. Tsai and I.N. Lin
National Tsing-hua Univ., TW

Keywords: emission, CNT, electrode configuration

Abstract:
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), it opens a new era of carbon materials on diversified applications; it involves cold cathode flat panel displays, gas sensors, single electronic transistor, reinforcement of composites, energy storage, scanning probe microscope, etc. On the application of CNTs on flat panel display, researchers make huge effort to find the optimum structure and morphology of the CNT emitter and to investigate the emission properties related to the structure. Previous studies reveal that the threshold field for a 10 mA/cm2 current density is in the range of 2-3 V/_m for random single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and 3-5 V/_m for random and aligned MWNTs. In this work, slurry containing 10 wt% MWNTs, silver paste, and metal nanoparticle was used for fabricating electrode. The emission properties of MWNTs film fabricated by screen printing were measured. By proper design of the electrode, threshold voltage and turn-on voltage less than 2.0 V/_m and 1.0 V/mm, respectively, and current density over 40 mA/cm2 were achieved (Figures 1 and 2). Microstructure variation after emission test was examined and influences of electrode configuration on the emission properties were studied.

Nanotech 2004 Conference Technical Program Abstract