Electrical and structural characterizations of one-dimensional carbon nanostructures synthesized at ambient pressure

Abstract

One-dimensional carbon nanostructures were synthesized at ambient pressure on molybdenum substrates using the pulsed laser deposition techniques. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed the evolutions of the nanostructures for different substrate temperatures, but otherwise identical growth conditions. Transmission electron microscopy images showed that the obtained carbon nanorods were about 20 nm in diameter and 1 µm in length. The crystallographic structures, chemical compositions and bond structures of the carbon materials were investigated using x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy, respectively.The electron field emission behaviours of the carbon nanostructures were considerably improved with the increase in substrate temperature. The rod-shaped nanostructures synthesized at 600 °C geometrically increase the effective emission sites, which consequently leads to a high value of field enhancement factor.