The in situ preparation of novel α-Fe2O3 nanorods/CNTs composites and their greatly enhanced field emission properties

► Fe2O3 nanorods/CNTs nanocomposites has been researched in this article. ► The composites have been formed by dropping CNTs on iron sheet followed oxidation. ► The CNTs absorbed and wrapped outside of Fe2O3 nanorods, forming many CNT tips. ► The composites exhibit very good field emission performances.