Highly flexible and robust N-doped SiC nanoneedle field emitters

Flexible field emission (FE) emitters, whose unique advantages are lightweight and conformable, promise to enable a wide range of technologies, such as roll-up flexible FE displays, e-papers and flexible light-emitting diodes. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time highly flexible SiC field emitters with low turn-on fields and excellent emission stabilities. n-Type SiC nanoneedles with ultra-sharp tips and tailored N-doping levels were synthesized via a catalyst-assisted pyrolysis process on carbon fabrics by controlling the gas mixture and cooling rate. The turn-on field, threshold field and current emission fluctuation of SiC nanoneedle emitters with an N-doping level of 7.58 at.% are 1.11 V μm−1, 1.55 V μm−1 and 8.1%, respectively, suggesting the best overall performance for such flexible field emitters. Furthermore, characterization of the FE properties under repeated bending cycles and different bending states reveal that the SiC field emitters are mechanically and electrically robust with unprecedentedly high flexibility and stabilities. These findings underscore the importance of concurrent morphology and composition controls in nanomaterial synthesis and establish SiC nanoneedles as the most promising candidate for flexible FE applications. Spiky silicon carbide (SiC) ‘nanoneedles’ can improve light emission from e-paper and other bendable electronic devices. Flexible field-emission displays are an emerging technology in which tiny conductive tips grown on lightweight, rollable surfaces generate intense light. Significant manufacturing- and materials-related obstacles, however, have limited their application. Now, a team led by Tom Wu from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and Weiyou Yang from Ningbo University of Technology in China investigated how SiC — a compound with notable stiffness and stablity — performed as a field emitter by catalytically synthesising this material into nanoscale needles with ultrasharp tips and controllable doping levels on a carbon fabric surface. Their experiments showed that the SiC nanoneedles had low ‘turn-on’ field requirements and minimal emission fluctuations even after repeated bending cycles, thanks to their impressive mechanical robustness. We demonstrated for the first time highly flexible N-doped SiC nanoneedle field emitters with low turn-on fields and excellent emission stabilities. The characterizations of their field emission properties under repeated bending cycles and different bending states confirmed that such emitters are mechanically and electrically robust. These findings underscore the importance of concurrent morphology and composition controls in nanomaterial synthesis and establish SiC nanoneedles as the most promising candidate for flexible FE applications.