Horizontally aligned carbon nanotube field emitters fabricated on ITO glass substrates

Horizontally aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters, in which electrons are emitted from the side of CNTs, are fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrates by electrophoretic deposition and fissure formation techniques. A thin film of CNTs is deposited onto an ITO glass plate using an aqueous mixture of CNTs and the cationic detergent cetyltrimethylammonium bromide by applying a negative voltage to the ITO glass plate. Then, an additional layer of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an anionic detergent, is deposited on the CNT film. This is done using an aqueous solution of SDS by applying a positive voltage. Through the process of firing, CNTs with a clean surface are exposed in the fissures produced. No further treatment is needed to initiate or augment field emission. The CNT field emitters show relatively good field-emission properties such as high current density (11 mA/cm² at an applied electric field of 4.3 V/μm), low turn-on field (2.2 V/μm), and good stability (98 h for 10% degradation of current density from 400 μA/cm²).