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Transport and field emission properties of buckypapers obtained from aligned carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

We produce 120-µm-thick buckypapers from aligned carbon nanotubes. Transport characteristics evidence ohmic behavior in a wide temperature range nonlinearity appearing in the current–voltage curves only close to 4.2 K. The temperature dependence of the conductance shows that transport is mostly due to thermal fluctuation-induced tunneling, although to explain the whole temperature range from 4.2 to 430 K a further linear contribution is necessary. The field emission properties are measured by means of a nano-controlled metallic tip acting as collector electrode to access local information about buckypaper properties from areas as small as 1 µm2. Emitted current up to 10−5 A and turn-on field of about 140 V/µm are recorded. Long operation, stability and robustness of emitters have been probed by field emission intensity monitoring for more than 12 h at pressure of 10−6 mbar. Finally, no tuning of the emitted current was observed for in-plane applied currents in the buckypaper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR-SPIN Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 84084, Fisciano, Italy

    F. Giubileo, N. Martucciello & A. Di Bartolomeo

  2. Physics Department “E. R. Caianiello”, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 84084, Fisciano, Italy

    L. Iemmo, G. Luongo & A. Di Bartolomeo

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 84084, Fisciano, Italy

    M. Raimondo & L. Guadagno

  4. Department of Physical and Chemical Science, University of L’Aquila, Via Vetoio, 67100, Coppito, L’Aquila, Italy

    M. Passacantando

  5. University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH, 45440, USA

    K. Lafdi

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  1. F. Giubileo
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  2. L. Iemmo
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  3. G. Luongo
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Giubileo, F., Iemmo, L., Luongo, G. et al. Transport and field emission properties of buckypapers obtained from aligned carbon nanotubes. J Mater Sci 52, 6459–6468 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-0881-4

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