Field Emission Properties of Polymer Graphite Tips Prepared by Membrane Electrochemical Etching.

Alexandr Knápek,Dinara Sobola,Daniel Burda,Marwan S Mousa,Mohammad M Allaham,Miroslav Horáček,Milan Matějka,Pavel Kaspar,Rashid Dallaev

doi:10.3390/nano10071294

Abstract

This paper investigates field emission behavior from the surface of a tip that was prepared from polymer graphite nanocomposites subjected to electrochemical etching. The essence of the tip preparation is to create a membrane of etchant over an electrode metal ring. The graphite rod acts here as an anode and immerses into the membrane filled with alkali etchant. After the etching process, the tip is cleaned and analyzed by Raman spectroscopy, investigating the chemical composition of the tip. The topography information is obtained using the Scanning Electron Microscopy and by Field Emission Microscopy. The evaluation and characterization of field emission behavior is performed at ultra-high vacuum conditions using the Field Emission Microscopy where both the field electron emission pattern projected on the screen and current–voltage characteristics are recorded. The latter is an essential tool that is used both for the imaging of the tip surfaces by electrons that are emitted toward the screen, as well as a tool for measuring current–voltage characteristics that are the input to test field emission orthodoxy.

Highlights

Graphite materials find their applications in modern electronics with a rapidly increasing frequency [1,2,3,4,5]
This paper presents the field emission behavior of field emission tips containing multiple graphite flakeTs hthisatpaarpeerbephraevsienngtssitmheilafrietlod peamrtiiscsuiolanr beelehcatvroionrsoofurfcieelsdonemaisssiniognlettiipps. cToontoabintainingamsaumltippllee, wgreaphhavitee afldaakpetsedthaatdaerveicbeeuhsaivnignga swimelill-aersttaoblpisahrteidcumlaertheloedctorof nelesocturroccehseomnicaalseintcghleintgipt.oTcoreoabtetaaintipa sfraommpalec,owmepohsaivteemaadtaepritaeldbaaseddevoincegruaspihnigteaflawkeelsl-iensatambleimshberdanme eotfhaolkdaolifeteclhecatnrto.cThheemeilceacltreotcchheinmgictaol setup has been described along with particular chemical processes taking place during the process of Polymer graphite (PG) etching
Before the analysis of the field emission properties, it was necessary to describe the effect of the electrochemical etching and to evaluate multiple PG nanocomposites that are currently commercially available

Summary

Introduction

Graphite materials find their applications in modern electronics with a rapidly increasing frequency [1,2,3,4,5]. The PG has high conductivity and immunity against surface contamination, with a low price, which make it seem a highly suitable material for electrode manufacture in general [11,12,13,14]. Such pointed graphite rods may find various applications in analytical methods; for example, they can be used as a source of free electrons [15] or they can operate with a tunneling current in Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) conductive modes [11]. According to the ScienceDirect, there are almost 1800 articles featuring graphite structures, which speaks in favor of the relevancy of our research

Methods

Results

Conclusion