Synthesis and field emission of diamond-like carbon nanorods on TiO2/Ti nanotube arrays

Highly ordered TiO2/Ti nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodic oxidation method in 0.5 wt% HF. Using prepared TiO2/Ti nanotube arrays deposited Ni nanoparticles as substrate, high quality diamond-like carbon nanorods (DLCNRs) were synthesized by a conventional method of chemical vapor deposition at 750 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. DLCNRs were analyzed by filed emission scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectrometer. It is very interesting that DLCNRs possess pagoda shape with the length of 3-10 μm. Raman spectra show two strong peaks about 1332 cm−1 and 1598 cm−1, indicating the formation of diamond-like carbon. The field emission measurements suggest that DLCNRs/TiO2/Ti has excellent field emission properties, a low turn-on field about 3.0 V/μm, no evident decay at 3.4 mA/cm2 in 480 min.