The fabrication and properties of field emission display based on ZnO tetrapod-liked nanostructure

ZnO tetrapod-liked nanostructure with fine crystalline structure and high purity was synthesized via CVD method. Each branch of the nanotetrapod was 50-200 nm in diameter and the nanotetrapod structure exhibited a high aspect ratio. Cathode emission materials with this nanostructure were employed to fabricate field emission display with 72 × 72 pixel array. The as-obtained device showed an ideal field emission property with a threshold electric field of 4.1 V/μm and an emission current density of 1 mA/cm2 when the electric field reached 11.5 V/μm. The field enhancement factor of the nanotetrapods was calculated to be 1852. Using proper circuit drive, dynamic Chinese characters can be successfully displayed in the device.