High stability electron field emitters made of nanocrystalline diamond coated carbon nanotubes

We report enhanced life-time stability for the electron field emitters prepared by coating nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Upon overcoming the problem of poor stability in CNTs, the NCD-CNTs exhibit excellent life-time stability of 250 min tested at different applied voltages of 600 and 900 V. In contrast, the life-time stability of CNTs is only 33 min even at relatively low voltage of 360V and starts arcing at 400 V. Hence, the NCD-CNTs with improved life-time stability have great potential for the applications as cathodes in flat panel displays and microplasma display devices. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.