Field emission of large-area and graphitized carbon nanotube array on anodic aluminum oxide template

Abstract

Large-area, graphitized, and patterned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays were prepared via cracking of ethylene on an open-ended anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template that also served as a catalyst. With ion-milling and gold coating techniques, ohmic contact between the CNTs and electrode for field emission measurements was greatly improved. In both tip-plane and plane-plane field emitting experiments, the CNTs/AAO displayed a low turn-on field of ∼2.8 V/μm, a high maximum emitting current density of $\text{∼24}\mathrm{mA}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2,$ and a fairly good emitting stability.