Excellent oxidation endurance of boron nitride nanotube field electron emitters

Abstract

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are considered as a promising cold electron emission material owing to their negative electron affinity. BNNT field emitters show excellent oxidation endurance after high temperature thermal annealing of 600 degrees C in air ambient. There is no damage to the BNNTs after thermal annealing at a temperature of 600 degrees C and also no degradation of field emission properties. The thermally annealed BNNTs exhibit a high maximum emission current density of 8.39 mA/cm(2) and show very robust emission stability. The BNNTs can be a promising emitter material for field emission devices under harsh oxygen environments. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.