Electron field emission enhancement of hybrid Cu/CuO nanowires fabricated by rapid thermal reduction of CuO nanowires

Abstract

CuO nanowires (NWs) were grown via the thermal oxidation of Cu film deposited on a CuO/glass template. The reduction of CuO NWs was conducted at 250, 260, 270, and 280 °C in H₂ atmosphere. It was found that the surfaces of CuO NWs partially transformed into Cu via rapid thermal annealing (RTA) under H₂ atmosphere, forming hybrid Cu/CuO NWs. The field-enhancement factors of pure CuO NWs and hybrid Cu/CuO NWs prepared at 250, 260, and 270 °C were 2624, 5702, 7897, and 79 580, respectively. The results also show that the hybrid Cu/CuO NWs efficiently reduce the turn-on field from 6.4 to 0.9 V μm⁻¹.