title: Effects of residual gas exposure on the field emission properties of ZnO nanorods.
abstract: We compare the effects of O2, CO2, N2, H2, and Ar residual gas exposure on the field emission (FE) properties of ZnO nanorods. In contrast to carbon nanotubes and Mo metal microtips, we find that O2 and CO2 exposures do not significantly degrade the FE properties of ZnO nanorods. However, N2 exposure significantly degrades the FE properties. We propose that this could be due to the dissociation of N2 into atomic nitrogen species and the reaction of such species with ZnO. H2 and Ar exposures are not observed to significantly degrade the FE properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neogi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Perez
mesh_terms: D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D015034:Zinc Oxide