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Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) arrays were synthesized by thermal chemical vapor deposition. To investigate the effect of O 2 plasma on the properties of the field-emission, MWCNT arrays were exposed to O 2 plasma. Field-emission properties, such as emission current and stability, were greatly improved after the O 2 plasma treatment. The O 2 plasma could remove the entangled thin MWCNTs and etch the tips of MWCNTs, leading to reduced density and sharpened tips. The analytical estimation extracted from the Fowler–Nordheim plot supports the observation of sharpening the tips of nanotubes with little change of the work function of nanotubes.

AC driven inorganic electroluminescence (EL) of the carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer/phosphor composite was fabricated to investigate the effect of the critical percolation threshold by CNT concentration on EL performance. In order to control the appropriate CNT condition in EL device, CNTs were shortened by cryogenic crushing and purified by thermal treatment. Among various CNT concentrations in the composite film, the critical percolation threshold can be found to be 0.0925 wt.% by fitting conductivity data of the composite film. Near the critical percolation threshold of a CNT concentration, the EL performances of the composite EL were greatly increased compared to the reference EL. The tunneling barrier thickness at the ZnS–CuxS contact could become thin to induce more charge carrier tunneling into ZnS host lattice by the local field enhancement of CNTs, resulting in increased electron–hole recombination to produce more light emission.

An inorganic electroluminescent (EL) device on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and its properties were investigated. The transparent conducting film (TCF) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (CNT-TCF) was employed in the flexible EL device. CNT-TCF was formed by filtration of CNT solution and was transferred to the PET film. It was found that the brightness of the inorganic EL device was strongly dependent on the quality of the CNT composite films. After a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane treatment of the PET substrate, CNTs uniformly were dispersed and showed a good adhesion to the substrate, and the resulting EL device showed better performance. The flexible EL device showed the brightness of 96.8 cd/m2 at 28 kHz and 50 V.

A cryogenic crushing method to produce short carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is described. Crushing CNTs at liquid nitrogen temperature allows them to be shortened and make them appreciably soluble in a solvent without any dispersant. Typical lengths of less than 500 nm were obtained from 30 min crushing. The CNTs were characterized using atomic force microscopy, thermogravimetric, and Raman analyses.

We report a method to fabricate carbon nanotubes (CNT)/conducting polymer composite films for the application of CNTs to field emission displays. The composite was prepared by a combination of electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole and electrophoretic deposition of CNTs. We obtained a uniform CNT/conducting polypyrrole polymer composite film. The CNTs were mainly coated on protrusions of the polypyrrole film and emitted electrons without rubbing and stretching. We realized a triode-type field emission array (FEA) using the CNT/polypyrrol composite. This FEA showed that the emission current was modulated by gate voltage of 30 V. The film morphology and emission characteristics of the CNT/conducting polymer composite were studied using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and an emission test in vacuum.

The display characteristics of AC powder electroluminescence (EL) devices were improved by adopting nanomaterials, here single walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs were shortened by the cryo-crushing method in order to reduce unnecessary current bypath networks which might be formed by long pristine CNTs. Two approaches utilizing CNTs were investigated—a CNT layer was inserted between an emitting layer and a dielectric layer, and CNT-phosphor composite was used as an emitting layer. Both methods improved the brightness and current density of EL devices (20% brighter and 10% less current density than the reference device). This might be caused by the characteristics of nanomaterials, i.e., high local electric field near the end of nanomaterials and high surface to volume ratio.

Field emission properties of CNTs(carbon nanotubes) have been investigated in the various field, such as flat panel display and x-ray sources. Especially, the x-ray tube which fabricated using the CNTs can be operated with low power consumption compare with filament-based x-ray tubes. The cold cathode — CNTs- can be operated at the lower voltage and the electron which coming out from the CNTs can be controlled easilly by focus electrode. And for high emission current, the device should be stable at the high operate voltage. The gate electrode-mesh-type electrode- can be layered by using glass frit and firing process. At this point, the mesh structure can be controlled for the higher adhesion force which is for the emission stability at the high voltage. The glass frit could be act effectively between mesh electrode and insulating layer because of the designed mesh structure.

The triode-typed field emission (FE) devices using carbon nanotube (CNT) emitters for the x-ray application were fabricated. For the stability of the device, the leakage current between cathode and gate, and the emission current to the anode electrode should be controlled. We realized that the thickness of insulating layer-gap distance between cathode and gate- and the space between the gate electrodes-electron path from cathode and anode- should be controlled for the ratio of the current from cathode to anode (Ia) to the current from cathode to gate (Ig). The ratio of Ia to Ig can be represented the device efficiency. The rectangular-mesh electrode and screen printed insulating layer were controlled for Ia/Ig. When the size of gate hole was the 50 by 700 um — the electrode size is 25 by 700 um — and the thickness of insulator layer was 65 um, the maximum ratio of Ia/(Ia+Ig) was 0.63.

We have fabricated fully vacuum-sealed 5 in. diagonal carbon nanotube field-emission displays of a gated structure with reliable electron emission characteristics. Single-walled carbon nanotube tips were implemented into the gate structure using self-aligned backside exposure of photosensitive carbon nanotube paste. An onset gate electrode voltage for emission was about 60 V and the luminance as high as 510 cd/m2 was exhibited under an application of 100 V and 1.5 kV to gate electrode and anode, respectively.

AC inorganic electroluminescence (EL) devices were fabricated using the emitting layer composed of phosphor-single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) composite (PSC) to utilize the local field enhancement of SWCNTs. In order to enhance the electric field in an emitting layer with minimized current paths, bare long SWCNTs were shortened by cryogenic crushing method. After electrical aging treatment of the PSC device, partly formed short SWCNT networks in the emitting layer were effectively removed during the electrical aging treatment. High performance of 60% and 43% increase in efficiency and luminance, respectively, was achieved. This PSC device with short SWCNTs could lead to high brightness due to increased electron tunneling into phosphor. The PSC device reveals the importance of high electric field by SWCNTs leading to high EL performance.

The EL performance of the tandem structured phosphor/polymer/SWCNT composite was greatly increased by structural and material effects, which led to increased tunneling charge carriers into phosphor, resulting in improved luminance. The tandem structured composite EL device exhibited a 1570% increase in the luminance compared to the raw phosphor EL device.

Electroluminescence(EL) was observed on conventional cathodoluminescent (CL)phosphor with the incorporation of carbon nanotube(CNT) at ambient air. The role of CNT can be understood as enhancing the local electrical field, which allows electron injection to the active center of phosphor at relatively low operating voltages. In this EL device, the brightness of CLphosphor was significantly improved from no light emission in the case of no addition of CNT to 35 cd / m 2 with 1 wt % CNT at 10 kHz of ac 300 V.

A simple secondary-electron-emission (SEE)-based source was fabricated using a carbon-nanotube-dispersed MgO precursor solution. This emission source exhibits a high SEE gain as over 103. In addition, the self-sustaining current was observed even after turning off the primary electron beam, then the emission current could be modulated by a small electric field variation (1.2–2V∕μm). The electron energy spectrum of the self-sustaining emission indicates that the major character of the emission is attributed to the field-enhanced SEE rather than direct field emission.