Directional neurite outgrowth on superaligned carbon nanotube yarn patterned substrate

Superaligned carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn patterned substrates were developed as the topographic scaffold for guiding the neurite outgrowth. As-prepared patterned substrates were used for culturing rat hippocampal neurons, without purifying and functionalizing processes on the CNTs. The neurite outgrowth on the patterned substrate exhibited a strong tendency to being aligned along the CNT yarns long axes. The neurite grown along the CNT yarns had much less branching than the one on a uniform planar substrate typically used for neuron culture. These results indicate that the pure CNT yarns possess the main characteristics of a guidance scaffold for neurite outgrowth. Furthermore, the CNT yarns can be mass produced and be easily weaved into desired structures, which may make them attractive for neuronal regeneration and tissue engineering.     

Enhanced field emission from aligned multistage carbon nanotube emitter arrays

In this work we report on the synthesis and field emission properties of carbon nanotube multistage emitter arrays grown on porous silicon by catalytic thermal chemical vapor deposition. The vertically oriented multistage array structures consisted of SWNTs and thin MWNTs grown on MWNTs, confirmed by TEM and Raman analysis. Higher field emission current ～32 times and low threshold field ～1.5 times were obtained for these structures in comparison to only MWNT arrays. The enhanced field emission results for these multistage emitters are a consequence of higher field concentration, which is ～3 times more than MWNTs.     

二极管型碳基膜场发射显示器的制作(英文)

介绍了一套简单、低成本的制作二极管型碳基膜场发射显示器模块的制作方法.该显示单元模块为16 * 16矩阵型点阵,可根据实际需要拼接成各种尺寸.器件的阴极和阳极均采用丝网印刷技术,包括:阴极导电图形、CNT图形、阳极荧光图形的印刷.各膜层图形经过精心设计以实现矩阵选址.使用低玻粉将阴极和阳极烧结之后,采用超高真空排气台进行排气,然后装配上驱动电路,即实现了单元碳基膜场发射显示器模块的制作.另外,为了改善CRT荧光粉的黏附性差和电阻率低的问题,我们往CRT荧光粉浆料中分别加入了碳纳米管和硝酸镁,得到了更好的发光性能.     

Carbon nanotube field emitter

Recently, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), possessing excellent properties as field emitters, are attracting considerable attention as electron emitters of a cold cathode. In this review article, field emission phenomena of carbon nanotubes with various morphologies and surfaces (clean surface or adsorbed molecules on it) revealed by field emission microscopy are first described. Then, the main subject of this article, application of CNTs as electron sources in display devices is reviewed. Other electric devices utilizing CNT-field emitters are also presented.     

碳纳米管场发射电子源

从实验和理论上研究单根碳纳米管(CNT)场发射电子源的稳定问题.利用透射电镜/扫描探针显微镜(TEM/SPM)和场发射显微镜/场离子显微镜(FEM/FIM)对CNTs的场发射特性进行了实验研究.同时从密度泛函理论出发,利用相关程序模拟计算了吸附对单壁碳纳米管(SWNTs)场发射的影响.发现SWNTs荷电体系的总能量与荷电电荷数量关系具有抛物线形式,先减小,达到最小值,之后增加.通常荷4个电子时达到最小值,即体系处于最稳定状态.表明SWNTs有很大的电负性,是容易发生凝聚和吸附分子的根源.进而计算了对氢、氧和水的吸附特性,讨论了吸附对场发射的影响.这些结果对CNTs的场发射特性和作为新型电子源的应用都是有重要意义的.     

Carbon nanotube field emitters for planar emission vacuum micro-and nanoelectronics

The design and manufacturing technology of carbon nanotube field emitters for novel devices of planar emission vacuum micro-and nanoelectronics are described. Prototypes of diode structures with such emitters are obtained in which the threshold field strength amounts to ～2 V/μm and the direct to reverse current ratio exceeds 10⁵. The obtained small scatter of characteristics points to the possibility of creating integrated circuits possessing high operation speed and a working temperature range expanded from ?60 to +30°C.     

Fabrication and characterization of a 3D-structured field emitter using carbon nanotube

Carbon nanotube has good electrical properties and a high aspect ratio, which enable it to obtain a high current at a low voltage due to its high field. Due to the life and uniformity of their emission tips, carbon nanotube field emitters are hard to commercialize. A field emitter with a three-dimensional (3D) structure was fabricated in this study to overcome such problems. In the 3D-structured field emitter, the field emission tips are located only at the vertical plane, where an enlarged field emission area can be attained. To fabricate the tip of the 3D-structured field emitter, carbon nanotube/silver nanocomposite powders were fabricated via molecular-level mixing and were sprayed at a substrate with good attachment and homogeneous dispersion between the CNT tips and the silver. The field emission properties of the 3D-structured field emitter were then determined and compared with those of a flat field emitter. The field emission area of the 3D-structured field emitter was found to be 4.5 times larger than that of the flat field emitter, with six times higher current density. Moreover, the 3D-structured field emitter had better stability than the flat field emitter. At a high gate field, the emission images of the 3D-structured field emitter showed light spots expanded towards the gate direction.     

Ionization vacuum gauge with a carbon nanotube field electron emitter combined with a shield electrode

The applicability of carbon nanotubes to an electron source for a Bayard-Alpert type vacuum gauge has been investigated. Three gauge configurations are designed to optimize the gauge performance. The optimized gauge, in which an additional shield electrode is fixed on a gate electrode, exhibits good measurement of linearity between ion current and system pressure from 10⁻⁷ to 10⁻² Pa. A gauge sensitivity of 0.05 Pa⁻¹ has been achieved under 100 μA emission current for nitrogen, comparable with 0.07 Pa⁻¹ of commercial ionization gauges.     

Formation of free-standing carbon nanotube array on super-aligned carbon nanotube film and its field emission properties

Flexible and free-standing well-aligned carbon nanotube arrays have been synthesized on super-aligned carbon nanotube films. The combined structure of the carbon nanotube array and carbon nanotube film was formed during chemical vapor deposition on a quartz substrate which had previously been covered with a super-aligned carbon nanotube film. It was found that the growing carbon nanotube array could support up the super-aligned carbon nanotube film entirely, and the top of the array became densely entangled with the super-aligned carbon nanotube film. The carbon nanotube array with the super-aligned carbon nanotube film could be easily peeled off from the quartz substrate as a whole, giving a flexible and free-standing structure with good mechanical properties. The bottom of the array was also exposed after being peeled off and was used as a field emitter. The combined structure of the carbon nanotube array with the carbon nanotube film allowed adsorbent-free field emission by passing a heating current through it. Furthermore, due to the fast thermal response of the structure and the long time needed for re-adsorption of adsorbates in vacuum, it was found that pulsed heating with a 10% duty ratio was sufficient for adsorbent-free field emission. The heating power necessary to sustain the adsorbent-free state can be lowered in this way.

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Enhanced and stable electron emission of carbon nanotube emitter arrays by post-growth hydrofluoric acid treatment

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been highlighted as possible candidates for field-emission emitters and vacuum nanoelectronic devices. In this article, we studied the effect of acid treatment of CNTs on field emission from carbon nanotube field emitter arrays (FEAs), grown using the resist-assisted patterning process (RAP). The emission current densities of as grown CNT-FEAs and those which were later immersed in hydrofluoric acid (HF) for 20 s, were 19 μA/cm² and 7.0 mA/cm², respectively, when measured at an anode field of 9.2 V/μm. Hence, the emission current densities after HF treatment are 300 times larger than those of as grown CNT-FEAs. Also, it was observed that a very stable electron emission current was obtained after stressing the CNTs with an electric field of 9.2 V/μm for 800 min in dc-mode, where the emission current non-uniformity was 0.13%. The enhancement in electron emission after HF treatment appears to be due to the effect of fluorine bonding. Also, the electron emission characteristics and structural improvement of CNT-FEAs after HF treatment are discussed.     

Ni基碳纳米管场发射阴极的性能研究

导电电极决定碳纳米管（CNT）阴极的接触方式和导电特性,影响阴极场发射特性和使用寿命.为改善膜层与基底的附着特性,磁控溅射制作亲碳性Ni电极.微观表征发现Ni基CNT阴极中生成了碳化镍相,这增加了CNT与电极间形成欧姆接触概率,降低甚至消除了从电极到CNT的电子传输势垒,能有效提高阴极导电性.场发射特性测试结果显示Ni...     

Enhanced field emission properties of vertically aligned double-walled carbon nanotube arrays

Vertically aligned double-walled carbon nanotube (VA-DWCNT) arrays were synthesized by point-arc microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition on Cr/n-Si and SiO(2)/n-Si substrates. The outer tube diameters of VA-DWCNTs are in the range of 2.5-3.8?nm, and the average interlayer spacing is approximately 0.42?nm. The field emission properties of these VA-DWCNTs were studied. It was found that a VA-DWCNT array grown on a Cr/n-Si substrate had better field emission properties as compared with a VA-DWCNT array grown on a SiO(2)/n-Si substrate and randomly oriented DWCNTs, showing a turn-on field of about 0.85?V?μm(-1) at the emission current density of 0.1?μA?cm(-2) and a threshold field of 1.67?V?μm(-1) at the emission current density of 1.0?mA?cm(-2). The better field emission performance of the VA-DWCNT array was mainly attributed to the vertical alignment of DWCNTs on the Cr/n-Si substrate and the low contact resistance between CNTs and the Cr/n-Si substrate.     

Using patent analyses to monitor the technological trends in an emerging field of technology: a case of carbon nanotube field emission display

Carbon nanotube field emission display (CNT-FED) represents both emerging application of nanotechnology and revolutionary invention of display. Therefore, it is an important subject to monitor the states and trends of CNT-FED technology before the next stage of development. The present paper uses patent bibliometric analysis and patent network analysis to monitor the technological trends in the field of CNT-FED. These results firstly reveal the different aspects of patenting activities in the field of CNT-FED. Then, patent network analysis indicates the developing tendency of worldwide FED production based on the synthesis of CNT materials. Furthermore, key technologies of three clusters can be identified as the depositing CNT on substrate, coating phosphor on screen and assembling process for whole device. Finally, emitter material is taken for the key factor in R&D work to improve the efficacy in CNT-FED technology.     

Secondary nanotube growth on aligned carbon nanofibre arrays for superior field emission

We report substantial improvement of the field emission properties from aligned carbon nanotubes grown on aligned carbon nanofibres by a two-stage plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) process. The threshold field decreased from 15.0 to 3.6 V/microm after the secondary growth. The field enhancement factor increased from 240 to 1480. This technique allows for superior emission of electrons for carbon nanotube/nanofibre arrays grown directly on highly doped silicon for direct integration in large area displays.     

A carbon nanotube field emission multipixel x-ray array source for microradiotherapy application

The authors report a carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission multipixel x-ray array source for microradiotherapy for cancer research. The developed multipixel x-ray array source has 50 individually controllable pixels and it has several distinct advantages over other irradiation source including high-temporal resolution (millisecond level), the ability to electronically shape the form, and intensity distribution of the radiation fields. The x-ray array was generated by a CNT cathode array (5×10) chip with electron field emission. A dose rate on the order of >1.2 Gy∕min per x-ray pixel beam is achieved at the center of the irradiated volume. The measured dose rate is in good agreement with the Monte Carlo simulation result.     

蒸镀碳化铪(HfC)对单根碳纳米管场致发射性能的改善

采用双向电泳法,在原子力显微镜探针尖端组装了单根碳纳米管,在真空环境下对比测量了单根碳纳米管蒸镀低逸出功材料HfC前后场致发射电流曲线和电流噪声的特点。证明了HfC蒸镀在碳纳米管上能够显著降低发射体的逸出功,减少电流噪声,并且观察到单根碳纳米管蒸镀了HfC后7μA左右的稳定电流发射。通过分析电流噪声,认为碳纳米管场致发射噪声主要来自吸附气体的频繁吸附和脱附。在低电流下,空间电离的离子轰击发射体表面,对吸附状态的影响占主导地位。当单根碳纳米管的场致发射电流超过1μA量级以后,碳纳米管表面温度快速升高,温度对气体吸附的影响占主导地位,吸附的气体分子逐渐脱附后,电流噪声开始降低。     

一种提高大面积碳纳米管场发射能力方法

碳纳米管(CNT)具有良好的场发射特性,研究表明,垂直于基板的碳纳米管具有较其他取向更大的场发射能力,本文介绍一种在大面积基板上使碳纳米管取向垂直的方法,通过有关参数的实验测试,研究了解场发射能力提高程度,并估算场增强因子。本方法对制备大屏幕场发射显示器(FED)具有积极意义。     

Tunable field emission properties of carbon nanotube arrays by engineering Fe catalysts

High-quality carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays composed of nanotubes with different diameters and wall numbers were synthesized by water-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from engineered Fe catalysts. Interestingly, the distribution of nanotube diameter and wall number broadened over 2.5 times as the catalytic Fe thickness increased. The mean diameter and wall number of nanotubes increased monotonically with the Fe thickness, while the calculated CNT area density within an array dropped about 32 times. Field emission measurements revealed that the turn-on voltage for CNT arrays decreased from 3.5 to 2.5 V/µm with the increased catalytic Fe thickness. It was believed that the screening effect from the proximity of neighboring nanotubes has a dominant influence than the CNT diameter on the resulting turn-on voltage.     

Effect of gas pressure on electron field emission from carbon nanotube forests

This article quantifies the effect of the operating pressure of the H2 + C2H4 gas mixture on the current density and threshold voltage of the electron emission from dense forests of multiwalled carbon nanotubes synthesized using thermal catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition under near atmospheric pressure process conditions. The results suggest that in the pressure range of interest 400-700 Torr the field emission properties can be substantially improved by operating the process at lower gas pressures when the nanostructure aspect ratios are higher. The obtained threshold voltage approximately 1.75 V/microm and the emission current densities approximately 10 mA/cm2 offer competitive advantages compared with the results reported by other authors.