Enhanced electron emission of directly transferred few-layer graphene decorated with gold nanoparticles

Abstract

We demonstrate the possibility for integrating field emitters with two-dimensional (2D) graphene for directly transferred vacuum nanoelectronics. Improved field emission (FE) properties were revealed with few-layer graphene (FLG) decorated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). An in situ field emission measurement on the local graphene film was applied, achieving a maximum current density of 37.8 mA cm⁻². The graphene–Au NP nanocomposite retains a turn-on electric field of 3.84 V μm⁻¹, which is much lower than the pristine graphene, and the emission has been proved to be very stable. With graphene directly transferred onto a pre-prepared structure, we demonstrate the possibility of improving the efficiency of manufacturing large scale nano-devices with high-precision integration. The direct transferred vacuum devices are supposed to combine the advantages of vacuum nano-electronics with individual access, high integration density or nano-precision, offering promising features for future vacuum integrated applications.