Ar microwave plasma treatment of carbon nanotubes film by electrophoretic deposition

作者：Qin Yu Xiang^*; Hu Ming

来源：Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2008, 23(3): 515-518.

• carbon nanotubes
• electrophoretic deposition
• plasma treatment
• field emission

The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) film was prepared on Si substrate by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and treated by Ar microwave plasma. The microstructure and field emission properties of the as-prepared CNTs films before and after treatment were investigated. High-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and Raman spectroscope reveal the microstructural changes of CNTs after the plasma treatment as evidence of the appearance of a large amount of structural defects, the sticking with nanometer size and " needle-like " tips. The field emission measurements indicate that the turn on electric field is increased slightly after treatment. The sample treated by Ar plasma for 10min shows the best field emission J - E property. Compared to that of untreated sample, the threshold field of the CNTs film treated for 10min decreases from 3.12V/mu m to 2.54V/mu m. And after plasma treatment, the emission current density at applied electric field of 3.3V/mu m increase from 18.4mA/cm(2) to 60.7mA/cm(2). The mechanism of variation of field emission properties after plasma treatment is discussed.

• 出版日期2008-5
• 单位天津大学