Improved field emission properties of reduced graphene oxide decorated with indium nanoparticles

Abstract

Low work function metals decoration of graphene is a effective method for the improvement of electron field emission properties. Indium, a relatively lower work function metal, is used to decorate reduced graphene oxide (RGO) films for the first time by simple and efficient solution process combined with magnetron sputtering method and the field emission properties are investigated. At continue voltage mode, the indium decorated RGO films display lower turn-on and threshold field as well as better emission stability than those of pristine RGO films. Moreover, the field emission performance of indium decorated RGO films is affected by the spacing between the cathode and anode. At pulse voltage mode, the indium decorated RGO films show approximately 10 times higher maximum emission current density compared to that at continue voltage mode. The calculation results by density functional theory indicate that the indium decoration of RGO significantly increases the density of states (DOS) near Fermi level and reduces the work function.