Thermionic Emission from Carbon Nanotubes

- Dr David Cox

Using a nano-manipulation system contained within a scanning electron microscope we investigate the thermionic electron emission from multiwall carbon nanotubes. Peak emission currents of 65 nA are measured. The carbon nanotubes being grown at low temperature by the CVD method are defective with poor thermal conductivity. At the highest emission current levels we estimate the temperature of the nanotubes to be approximately 2900 K.

Figure Captions

Figure 1: Sequence of SEM images showing degrading secondary electron signal as thermionic emission from the nanotube begins to dominate the signal. Scale bar is 2 mm.

Figure 2: Plot of thermionic emission current versus current flowing through the nanotube. The markers on the curve correspond to the images shown in Figure 3.

 

Figure 1

Figure 2

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