Energy Exchange During Electron Emission from Carbon Nanotubes: Considerations on Tip Cooling Effect and Destruction of the Emitter

M. Dionne, S. Coulombe, and J. Meunier
Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Published in 2008

Murphy and Good general theory for electron emission from metal surfaces was used to predict the field-emission capabilities of ideal arrays of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT). The Nottingham effect was taken into account in order to explain experimental observation of a localized cooling of the VACNT tips during field emission and the total destruction of very short emitters at strong currents.

A promising theoretical design for strong emission at low temperatures was selected. Our COMSOL Multiphysics model allowed matching the current, voltage and observed breaking points of individual VACNT reported in two separate experimental studies.

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