Graphene/SiC heterojunction nanoarrays: toward field emission applications with low turn-on fields and high stabilities

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2019, Vol.7 (44), p.13748-13753
• Main Authors: Wang, Lin, Jiang, Lan, Zhang, Tian, Gao, Fengmei, Chen, Shanliang, Yang, Weiyou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cathodes; Emitters; Field emission; Graphene; Heterojunctions; Nanowires; Prepolymers; Pyrolysis; Shielding; Variation
• ISSN: 2050-7526; 2050-7534
• DOI: 10.1039/c9tc05035c

Low turn-on fields ( E to ) and high current emission stabilities are recognized as two crucial factors for the potential applications of field emission (FE) cathodes. In this work, graphene/SiC (G/SiC) heterojunction nanowire arrays were fabricated through catalyst-assisted pyrolysis of polymeric precursors. Aiming to explore advanced field emitters, G/SiC nanoarrays are designed to grow with a desired architecture including sharp tips, rough surface, incorporated dopants, and well-aligned configurations, which could fundamentally increase the effective emission sites, tailor the band gap structure, fully utilize the local field enhancement effect, and limit the shielding effect. The G/SiC emitters established exceptional FE properties with low and stable E to of 1.10-1.12 V μm −1 when subjected to various anode-cathode distances, as well as a small current emission fluctuation of ∼3.7% over 5 h and high field enhancement factor up to 6383, which were comparable to the state-of-the-art ones previously reported, representing their totally excellent FE performance. Graphene/SiC heterojunction nanoarray emitters were reported, which had low turn-on field, small current fluctuation and high field enhancement factor.