Improvement of the field emission properties of carbon nanotubes by CNT/Fe_3O_4 composite electrophoretic deposition

A simple CNT/Fe3O4 composite electrophoretic deposition method to improve the field emission cathode properties of carbon nanotubes(CNTs)is proposed.It is found that CNT/Fe3O4 composite electrophoretic deposition leads to better field emission performance than that of single CNT electrophoretic deposition.The result is investigated using SEM,J-E and FE.After the process,the turn-on electric field decreases from 0.882 to 0.500 V/μm at an emission current density of 0.1 mA/cm2,and the latter increases from 0.003 to 1.137 mA/cm2 at an electric field of 0.64 V/μm.CNT/Fe3O4 composite electrophoretic deposition is an easy and effective cathode preparation for field emission display applications.