Improved field emission from indium decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) films were grown using thermal chemical vapor deposition (T-CVD) process and were decorated with indium metal particles by thermal evaporation technique. The In metal particles are found to get oxidized. The In decorated films show 250% enhancement in the FE current density, lower turn-on and threshold fields, and better temporal stability as compared to their undecorated counterpart. This improvement in field emission properties is primarily attributed to increased density of states near the Fermi level. The presence of O 2p states along with a small contribution from In 5s states results in the enhancement of density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi level.