Improve field emission properties of SiC nanowires by doping rare earth cerium under different methane ventilation rate

Cerium (Ce)-doped SiC nanowires (NWs) were synthesized by chemical vapor reaction (CVR) method under diverse methane (CH4) ventilation rates, with milled Si-SiO2 mixed powders being used as silicon source. Afterwards, the products were characterized to be beta-SiC. In addition, FT-IR analysis reveals that the vibration intensity of Si-O group has been significantly reduced after doping with Ce, and the contraction vibration peak of Ce-O group appears at 882 cm(-1). After Ce doping, the energy gap shows a decreasing trend from 1.37 to 0.9 eV, as determined by Material Studion 4.2. At the CH4 ventilation rate of 0.12 sccm, the content of Ce displays a relatively high value of 0.93 at%, the coating layer of SiO2 is about 12 nm, and the turn-on field achieves a minimum value of about 2.47 V mu m(-1). A synergetic mechanism was proposed for explaining the influence of the morphology and Ce concentration on the field emission (FE) properties of Ce-doped SiC NWs. Findings in the present study may provide certain foundation for future studies examining the FE properties of additional one-dimensional nano-material.

Automated summary

Cerium-doped SiC nanowires were successfully synthesized by chemical vapor reaction method, and the characterization showed structural changes after Ce doping. Ce doping had significant effects on properties such as energy gap, Ce content, and turn-on field.