Field emission from self-assembly structure of carbon-nanotube films

Chemical vapor deposited (CVD) carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays were immersed in ethanol to make shrunk structures with separate nanotube “walls” for better field emission properties, such structures decreased the screening effects and reduced the turn-on electric field at 10 μA/cm2 from 1.68 to 1.23 V/μm. The field enhancement factor was calculated to increase by 23% according to Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) equation. The number of emission sites also increased and their distribution was more uniform.