Field emission properties from flexible field emitters using carbon nanotube film

Abstract

Flexible carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters are fabricated using CNT films on polyethylene terephthalate films. The flexible CNT emitters, which are made using double-walled CNTs, show high emission performance and also indicate stable field emission properties under several bending conditions. The flexible CNT emitters have a low turn-on field of about 0.82 V/μm and a high emission current density of about 2.0 mA/cm2 at an electric field of 1.6 V/μm. During stability tests, the flexible CNT emitters initially degrade over the first 4 h but exhibit no further significant degradation over the next 16 h testing while being continually bent. A flexible lamp made using the flexible CNT emitter displays uniform and bright emission patterns in a convex mode.