Fabrication of flexible field emitter arrays of carbon nanotubes using self-assembly monolayers

This letter reports on flexible field emitter arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) aligned on organic polymer substrates. An array of gold electrodes was patterned on the Ti-coated polymer substrate by sputtering gold through a shadow mask. A self-assembly monolayer of organic molecules was then formed on the gold electrodes using thiol chemistry. Cut SWNTs prepared by acidic treatment were attached to the end of the organic molecules. The field emission measurement showed that the turn-on field was 3.88 V/μm at the emission current density of $\text{10\hspace{0.17em}μ}{\mathrm{A/cm}}^2.$ The current density was $\text{1.6\hspace{0.17em}}{\mathrm{mA/cm}}^2$ at 6 V/μm. This room temperature process is suitable for the fabrication of flexible electronic devices with carbon nanotubes.