Water-processed carbon nanotube/graphene hybrids with enhanced field emission properties

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · AIP Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4930966· OSTI ID:22492349

Song, Meng; Xu, Peng; Wang, Xu; Wu, Huizhen; Wang, Miao ^[1]; Song, Yenan; Li, Zhenhua; Zhao, Pei ^[2]; Shang, Xuefu ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)
2. Institute of Applied Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027 (China)
3. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013 (China)

Integrating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene into hybrid structures provides a novel approach to three dimensional (3D) materials with advantageous properties. Here we present a water-processing method to create integrated CNT/graphene hybrids and test their field emission properties. With an optimized mass ratio of CNTs to graphene, the hybrid shows a significantly enhanced field emission performance, such as turn-on electric field of 0.79 V/μm, threshold electric field of 1.05 V/μm, maximum current density of 0.1 mA/cm{sup 2}, and field enhancement factor of ∼1.3 × 10{sup 4}. The optimized mass ratio for field emission emphasizes the importance of both CNTs and graphene in the hybrid. We also hypothesize a possible mechanism for this enhanced field emission performance from the CNT/graphene hybrid. During the solution treatment, graphene oxide behaves as surfactant sheets for CNTs to form a well dispersed solution, which leads to a better organized 3D structure with more conducting channels for electron transport.

• OSTI ID: 22492349
• Journal Information: AIP Advances, Journal Name: AIP Advances Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 5; ISSN AAIDBI; ISSN 2158-3226
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CARBON NANOTUBES
CARBON OXIDES
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
FIELD EMISSION
GRAPHENE
INTERFACES
WATER