Field emission characteristics of carbon nanotubes according to the high energy ion irradiation

TL;DR

This study investigates how high-energy ion irradiation affects the field emission properties of multiwalled and doublewalled carbon nanotubes, revealing improved emission in MWCNTs and deterioration in DWCNTs due to structural defects.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the contrasting effects of high-energy ion irradiation on different types of carbon nanotubes' field emission characteristics.

Findings

MWCNTs' turn-on field decreased from 5.43 to 3.10 V/μm after irradiation.

DWCNTs' emission deteriorated, with turn-on field increasing from 2.44 to 7.76 V/μm.

Structural defects caused by ion irradiation influence emission properties differently in MWCNTs and DWCNTs.

Abstract

The field emission properties of ion irradiated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and doublewalled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) have been studied. The carbon nanotubes synthesized by a chemical vapor deposition method were irradiated by high energy (90 MeV) Au ions with different ion fluence from 4x1011 to 1x1013 ions/cm2 . After ion irradiation, the field emission properties of MWCNTs and DWCNTs were greatly influenced. The change in the emission characteristics is due to structural defects caused by the high energy ion irradiation. The emission characteristic of MWCNTs was improved and turn-on field decreased from 5.43 to 3.10 V/m by ion irradiation. Noticeable improvement in emission characteristics of MWCNTs was observed at a fluence of 1x 10 13 ions/cm2. The emission characteristics of DWCNTs deteriorated and the turn-on field was increased from 2.44 to 7.76 V/m. This results show the distinctly different behavior of ion irradiated MWCNTs and DWCNTs.