Effective large-area free-standing graphene field emitters by electrophoretic deposition

Large area graphene field emitters were fabricated using electrophoretic deposition. By varying the deposition time, we were able to fabricate emitters with varied field enhancement factors. The turn-on field increased when the deposition time increased, and it was observed that a monolayer of graphene flakes covered on the substrate gave the best results. The low emission turn-on field obtained from the graphene field emitters was attributed to the random orientation of graphene flakes which give protruded edges that acted as field enhancing spots. Graphene emitters produced by this method present a low cost cold cathode that can be mass produced. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4765070]