Improved field emission property of graphene paper by plasma treatment

Lateral orientation and aggregation of the graphene sheets limited field enhancement of graphene paper (GP). To improve the field enhancement of GP, argon plasma treatment was induced to destroy the aggregation and cause formation of surface protrusions. After Ar plasma treatment, turn-on field and threshold field of GP were reduced from 2.3 V/mu m to 1.6 V/mu m and 4.4 V/mu m to 3.0 V/mu m, respectively. The enhancement was attributed to the protrusions. Scanning electron microscopy and hydrophobicity had been used to prove the morphology change after plasma treatment. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3467042]