Abstract
The response of field electron emission of cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowires (NWs) to visible light has been investigated. It is found that, upon light illumination, the turn-on voltage drops, emission current increases obviously, and the Fowler-Nordheim behavior deviates from a straight line. A process of field emission coupled with semiconducting properties of CdS NWs is proposed. Photon-excited electron transition from the valence band to the conductance band of CdS nanowires increases the quantity of emitting electrons, and the photoemission decreases the effective work function of CdS emitters, which largely enhances the field emission performance. The response of field emission of CdS NWs to light illumination suggests an approach for tuning field emission of semiconductor emitters.
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