Effect of anodization voltage on electron field emission from carbon nanotubes in anodized alumina template

In this work, electron field emission from AAO-CNT structure is studied as a function of anodizing voltage. It is found that the turn-on electric field of AAO-CNTs reduces from 5 V/microm to 4 V/microm as anodization voltage increase from 20 to 30 V. On the other hand, CNTs the turn-on electric field of AAO-CNTs increases from 4 V/microm to 6 V/microm as anodization voltage increase from 30 to 40 V. Thus, anodization voltage of 30 V provides an optimal AAO-CNTs structure for electron field emission. The emission data have been analyzed based on the Fowler Nordhiem (F-N) model. AAO template prepared with 30 V anodization voltage is found to yield CNT nanoarray with optimum alignment and spacing that increase field enhancement factor by the lowering of field screening effect without significant lowering of CNTs density.