Nanomaterials (Nov 2021)

Nanocone-Shaped Carbon Nanotubes Field-Emitter Array Fabricated by Laser Ablation

  • Jiuzhou Zhao,
  • Zhenjun Li,
  • Matthew Thomas Cole,
  • Aiwei Wang,
  • Xiangdong Guo,
  • Xinchuan Liu,
  • Wei Lyu,
  • Hanchao Teng,
  • Yunpeng Qv,
  • Guanjiang Liu,
  • Ke Chen,
  • Shenghan Zhou,
  • Jianfeng Xiao,
  • Yi Li,
  • Chi Li,
  • Qing Dai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123244
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 12
p. 3244

Abstract

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The nanocone-shaped carbon nanotubes field-emitter array (NCNA) is a near-ideal field-emitter array that combines the advantages of geometry and material. In contrast to previous methods of field-emitter array, laser ablation is a low-cost and clean method that does not require any photolithography or wet chemistry. However, nanocone shapes are hard to achieve through laser ablation due to the micrometer-scale focusing spot. Here, we develop an ultraviolet (UV) laser beam patterning technique that is capable of reliably realizing NCNA with a cone-tip radius of ≈300 nm, utilizing optimized beam focusing and unique carbon nanotube–light interaction properties. The patterned array provided smaller turn-on fields (reduced from 2.6 to 1.6 V/μm) in emitters and supported a higher (increased from 10 to 140 mA/cm2) and more stable emission than their unpatterned counterparts. The present technique may be widely applied in the fabrication of high-performance CNTs field-emitter arrays.

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