The structures and field emission properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays implanted with Zn+ by MEVVA ion implanter have been investigated.The results revealed that Zn+implantation induced structural damage and that the top of carbon nanotubes with multi-layered graphite structure were transformed into carbon nanowires with amorphous structure.Meanwhile,C:Zn solid solution was synthesized after Zn+ implantation.The turn-on field and threshold field were 0.80 and 1.31 V/μm,respectively for original multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays and were reduced to 0.66 and 1.04 V/μm due to the synthesis of C and Zn composite,in which the work function was reduced after low doses of Zn+implantation.It is indicated that low doses of Zn+implantation can improve field emission performance of multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays.Otherwise,high doses of Zn+implantation can reduce field emission properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays,because radiation damage reduces the electric field enhancement factor.
CHEN KeFan,DENG JianHua,ZHAO Fei,CHENG GuoAn &ZHENG RuiTing Key Laboratory of Beam Technology and Material Modification of Ministry of Education,College of Nuclear Science and Technology,Beijing Normal University,Beijing100875,China
