Controlled decoration of palladium (Pd) nanoparticles on graphene nanosheets and its superior field emission behavior

Abstract Development in nanoscience and nanotechnology has inspired scientists to continuously explore new cathode material for field emission applications. In the present article, different weight (wt) % of Pd nanoparticles (Pd NPs) ensemble on graphene (Gr) nanosheets (Pd-Gr) were prepared via one step simple chemical route. The field emission (FE) properties of Pd decorated Gr nanosheets were studied. Structural and morphological analysis of as synthesized Pd-Gr composites were carried out by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The FE properties of the Pd-Gr changed according to the variation in the wt% of Pd NPs. The Pd3-Gr field emitter showed better performance among all the emitters with lower turn on field, threshold field and maximum emission current density (J). The enhanced FE properties of Pd-Gr are due to the decoration of low work function Pd NPs. The FE results demonstrated herein suggest that, Pd-Gr based field emitters can open up many opportunities for their potential utilization in large area field emitters in various vacuum micro-nanoelectronic devices such as flexible field emission displays, portable X-ray and microwave tubes.