Synthesis of large-area single-walled carbon nanotube films on glass substrate and their field electron emission properties

Large-area and homogeneous single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films have been deposited via arc discharge directly on glass substrate coated with a layer of indium tin oxide film. The characterization, by means of electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, shows that the as-grown films are uniformly woven and consist of SWCNT with diameters ranging from 0.82 to 1.15 nm. As a cathode material, the field emission test indicates the films have low turn-on field of ∼1.2 V/μm at 10 μA/cm2 emission current, and high emission intensity causing luminance of about 7000 cd/cm2 with fine uniformity. The best performing sample exhibits a constant degradation of less than 3% per hour at an emission current of around 1 mA. Measuring with the high voltage (2000 V) on the films for 2.0 h increased the field enhancement factor from 4500 to 5400 at the high field region. The results are of significance to the development of field emission display using nanoemitters.