High-yield synthesis of thin multiwalled carbon nanotubes and their field emission characteristics

We have synthesized thin multi-walled carbon nanotubes (t-MWCNTs) using a catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) method with FeMoMgO catalyst. The number of tube walls were 2 - 6 with the corresponding diameters of 3 - 6 nm. We obtained high production yield of over 3000 wt% compared to the weight of the supplied catalyst. These t-MWCNTs revealed the intermediate structural characteristics between single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs). We have also characterized the field emission properties such as turn-on field and emission current, and current degradation from these t-MWCNTs together with SWCNTs and MWCNTs.