Electroluminescent properties of CdS/CNT hybrid material

Aligned multiwall carbon nanotube (NT) arrays were used for deposition of cadmium sulfide (CdS), nanoparticles from an aqueous solution containing thiourea, CdCl(2), and ammonia. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that used deposition technique does not destroy vertical orientation of CNTs to silicon substrate. The size of CdS nanoparticles formed on the side surface and ends of CNTs was estimated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be about 30 nm. It was found that CdS nanoparticles became luminescent during field electron emission from CNTs. Different color of the luminescence image was related to different size of the nanoparticles. [GRAPHICS] Scheme of appearance of electroluminescence from CdS/CNT hybrids and image of luminous cathode surface (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim