Enhanced field emission from carbon nanotube–conducting polymer composites with low loading

Electron field emission measurements were carried out in a vacuum on single-walled (SWNT), double-walled (DWNT) and multi-walled (MWNT) carbon nanotubes (1 wt%) embedded in a conducting polymer polyaniline (PANI) matrix prepared by chemical and electrochemical methods. The turn-on field ( E t o ) for electron emission ranges from 2 to 3 V/μm and the field enhancement factor β is very high, varying from 6000 to 7500. No field emission was observed from pure PANI films and MWNT (1%) PANI films up to 9 V/μm.