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A New Carbon Nanotube-Based Field Enhanced Thermionic Cathode

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Feng Jin  and
Christopher Day
Feng Jin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, U.S.A.
Christopher Day
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, U.S.A.
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Abstract

The electron emission properties and field enhancement effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively studied. However, all of these studies focus only on the field emission aspect of the materials and its application in cold cathode electron emitters. So far, we have not seen any studies in the literature that link CNTs with thermionic cathodes, which are an equally important cathode type because of their many applications. We present a study of field enhanced electron emissions from a new type of cathode: the CNT-based field enhanced thermionic cathode. This new cathode consists of a metal substrate with CNTs grown on top of its surface. The CNTs are coated with thermionic emission materials (BaO, SrO, and CaO). This unique cathode structure takes advantage of both the field enhancement effect from CNTs and the high electron emission capability of thermionic materials. The electron emission properties of this new cathode, particularly the field enhancement factor and effective work function, are compared with the conventional thermionic cathodes that are made of same oxide coating.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 858: Symposium HH – Functional Carbon Nanotubes , 2004 , HH13.33
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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