A simple method for creating nanotube field emitters from a surfactant dispersion

A new method has been developed for depositing aligned ropes of single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) such that a significant number of ropes protrude normally from the surface. The resulting surface has excellent field emission characteristics owing to the high local fields generated at the tips of the protruding nanotubes. Further development of the technique may lead to the construction of a reasonably homogeneous surface bristling with nanotube ropes, which could allow spatially resolved neutral atom detection via field ionization.