Electrical discharge machining of carbon nanomaterials: Mechanisms and the advanced field emission applications

Carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have been intensively investigated for various nanoelectronic applications due to their superb properties, good stability, and high aspect ratio. There have been many efforts to develop flat panel displays, light sources, and backlight units by using carbon nanomaterials. For wider applications, carbon nanomaterials often need to be cut, leveled, patterned, and figured. A reliable and precise micro-machining process, electrical discharge machining (EDM), was investigated in depth as a very neat method for the effective and multifunctional engineering of carbon nanomaterials. In the present study, the mechanisms of the EDM engineering of carbon nanomaterials are systematically examined, and the advanced field emission applications derived from the EDM method are presented.