The screening effects of carbon nanotube arrays and its field emission optimum density

Abstract

In order to investigate the field emission optimum density of carbon nanotube (CNT) array, the screening effects of CNT array have been studied. It has been shown that the electric field in the vicinity of an individual nanotube of array can be notable distorted due to the screening action of the surrounding neighbors. The optimum normalized spacing s/l(as referred to the length) for the maximum emission current is inversely proportional to aspect ratio l/r and electric field strength for CNT arrays with a fixed dimension.