Aerosol assisted fabrication of carbon nanotube/zinc oxide arrays for a field emission device

► A site-selective deposition of aerosol ZnO nanoparticles was used to catalyze a silicon substrate to form CNT arrays. ► The ZnO-deposited substrate was loaded into a CVD chamber, resulting in the formation of CNT/ZnO arrays. ► The turn-on field of an emission device with the CNT/ZnO arrays was 1.7 V μm−1 at a current of 2 μA.