Field emission from hydrogen titanate nanotubes

Abstract

Hydrothermally synthesized hydrogen titanate (H2Ti3O7) nanotube meshes and arrays exhibit excellent field emission characteristics. The turn-on field is as low as 1.4 V μm−1 for the mesh and 2.6 V μm−1 for the array, while the electric field corresponding to an emission current density of 10 μA cm−2 is 2 V μm−1 (mesh) and 3.8 V μm−1 (array). The H2Ti3O7 nanotube mesh has one of the lowest reported turn-on voltages and highest enhancement factors. The emission current also shows good long term stability. We attribute the efficient field emission to the presence of mid-gap states arising from the negative surface charge on the H2Ti3O7 nanotubes.