Field emission from cone-like single crystalline indium tin oxide nanorods

Cone-like indium tin oxide (ITO) nanorods were synthesized on Au-coated Si wafers via a carbon thermal reduction vapor transport method. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy investigations show that these cone-like structured samples present a high-purity single-crystalline cubic bixbyite structure. Field emission characteristics of the ITO nanorods were measured. A low turn-on voltage for driving a current density of 0.1 mu A/cm(2) is about 3.8 V/mu m. A relatively stable emission current was obtained at current density of similar to 0.12 mA/cm(2) without any degradation in emission for 20 h. The field enhancement factor (gamma) was determined to be similar to 1140 for ITO nanorods, which is comparable to those of carbon nanotubes. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.