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Field‐Emission Characteristics of Individual Carbon Nanotubes with a Conical Tip: The Validity of the Fowler–Nordheim Theory and Maximum Emission Current
Author(s) -
Wang MingSheng,
Chen Qing,
Peng LianMao
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.200800157
Subject(s) - field electron emission , conical surface , carbon nanotube , radius , materials science , field (mathematics) , nanotechnology , evaporation , current (fluid) , carbon fibers , composite material , physics , computer science , electron , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , mathematics , computer security , composite number , pure mathematics
Using the field‐emission (FE)‐induced evaporation technique, carbon‐nanotube (CNT) caps with continuously varying radii from subnanometer to 2.5 nm are obtained on individual CNTs with a conical tip. It is found that 1 nm may be considered as a practical critical radius for the applicability of the Fowler–Nordheim theory for capped CNTs, and the maximum stable FE current is dominated by the CNT cap structure.