Energy distributions of field emitted electrons from carbon nanosheets: manifestation of the quantum size effect

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the quantum size effect influences the energy distribution of electrons emitted from carbon nanosheets, highlighting the role of band structure and layer number in shaping emission characteristics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of quantum size effects on electron energy distributions in carbon nanosheets, linking layer number and inter-layer interactions to emission features.

Findings

Identification of characteristic sub-peaks in energy distribution

Dependence of peak positions on layer number and interactions

Manifestation of quantum size effect in emission spectra

Abstract

We emphasize the importance of experiments with voltage dependent field emission energy distribution analysis in carbon nanosheets. Our analysis shows the crucial influence of the band structure on the energy distribution of field emitted electrons in few-layer graphene. In addition to the main peak we found characteristic sub-peaks in the energy distribution. Their positions strongly depend on the number of layers and the inter-layer interaction. The discovery of these peaks in field emission experiments from carbon nanosheets would be a clear manifestation of the quantum size effect in these new materials.