Field emission from atomically thin edges of reduced graphene oxide

ORAL

Abstract

Point sources show the best electron emission properties due to local field enhancement at the tip. A drawback of tip emitters is that they must be positioned sufficiently apart to achieve field enhancement, limiting the number of emission sites and therefore the overall current. In contrast, we report ultra-low threshold voltage emission of multiple electron beams from atomically thin edges of individual reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. The emission sites observed by field emission (FEM) and field ion (FIM) microscopies are atomically spaced along the edge. FEM measurements indicate evidence for interference, suggesting that the emitted electron beams are coherent. Based on our spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and theory results, field emission is attributed to the aggregation of oxygen groups in the form of cyclic edge ethers. Such closely spaced electron beams from rGO offer prospects for novel applications and understanding the physics of linear electron sources.

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Authors

  • Hisato Yamaguchi

    Rutgers Univeristy

  • Katsuhisa Murakami

    Osaka University

  • Goki Eda

    Imperial College London

  • Takeshi Fujita

    Tohoku University

  • Julien Boisse

    Rutgers University

  • Pengfei Guan

    Tohoku University

  • Fujio Wakaya

    Osaka University

  • Kyeongjae Cho

    University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Physics and Department Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Materials Science \& Engineering Dept, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, Department of Material Science \& Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Tx 75080, Department of Materials Science \& Engineering and Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas

  • Yves Chabal

    University of Texas at Dallas

  • Mingwei Chen

    Tohoku University

  • Mikio Takai

    Osaka University

  • Manish Chhowalla

    Rutgers University