Effect of supercritical fluids on field emission from carbon nanotubes

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel method to enhance the emission characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It is extremely possible for CNTs to adsorb moisture and other contaminants during the fabrication processes, leading to the degraded field emission characteristics. In this work, CNT emitters are activated with commonly used heating process and supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) fluids technology for removing adsorbed residue moisture. Experimental results have demonstrated that the electrical stability and field emission enhancement of CNT emitters are effectively achieved by the SCCO2 fluids treatment compared to the heating process, due to the minimization of residuary moisture in CNTs.