title: Field emission properties of gold nanoparticle-decorated ZnO nanopillars.
abstract: The structural and optoelectronic properties of ZnO nanopillars (ZnO-NPs) grown on Si substrates by the vapor transport deposition method were investigated. In particular, by varying the deposition duration and hence the morphology of the vertically aligned ZnO-NPs, the resultant field emission characteristics were systematically compared. In addition to identifying the advantageous field emission properties exhibited in the pencil-like ZnO-NPs, we observed that by adhering Au nanoparticles on the surface of the ZnO-NPs the turn-on field and the maximum current density can be drastically improved from 3.15 V/μm and 0.44 mA/cm(2) at 5 V/μm for the best ZnO-NPs to 2.65 V/μm and 2.11 mA/cm(2) at 5 V/μm for Au/ZnO-NPs, respectively. The enhancement of field emission characteristics that resulted from Au-nanoparticle decoration is discussed on the basis of charge-transfer-induced band structure modifications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan. ymchang7@gmail.com
authors.forename: Yuan-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Man-Ling
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tung-Yen
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Hsin-Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chih-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yew-Chung Sermon
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jenh-Yih
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Juang