Boosting field emission performance of TiO2 nanoarrays with designed architectures

Abstract

As the “heart” of vacuum electronic device, the low turn-on field (Eto) of field emitters plays a crucial role for their practical application. In current work, we reported the designed fabrication of TiO2 field emitters with boosted field emission (FE) behaviors, by growing sharp branches and decorating Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) around the surfaces of preformed TiO2 nanorod arrays. It was found that the obtained nanoarrays with designed architectures could make a balance between the increased emission sites and limited field screening effect. The field enhancement factor (β) of as-fabricated TiO2 emitters was ~2 times to that the bare emitters. Moreover, their turn-on field and current density could be of 1.61 V/μm and ~4.95 mA/cm2, respectively, both of which were state-of-the-art ones among the TiO2 field emitters ever reported.