Water-processed carbon nanotube/graphene hybrids with enhanced field emission properties

Integrating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene into hybrid structures provides a novel approach to three dimensional (3D) materials with advantageous properties. Here we present a water-processing method to create integrated CNT/graphene hybrids and test their field emission properties. With an optimized mass ratio of CNTs to graphene, the hybrid shows a significantly enhanced field emission performance, such as turn-on electric field of 0.79 V/μm, threshold electric field of 1.05 V/μm, maximum current density of 0.1 mA/cm2, and field enhancement factor of ∼1.3 × 104. The optimized mass ratio for field emission emphasizes the importance of both CNTs and graphene in the hybrid. We also hypothesize a possible mechanism for this enhanced field emission performance from the CNT/graphene hybrid. During the solution treatment, graphene oxide behaves as surfactant sheets for CNTs to form a well dispersed solution, which leads to a better organized 3D structure with more conducting channels for electron transport.