Simple One-Pot Fabrication of Gold Decorated Carbon Nanotubes for Enhanced Field Emission Application

Functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) exhibit attractive and promising properties to serve for diverse wide applications ranging from catalytic systems, sensors, fuel cells, electronic devices, interconnects to biological systems, and particularly field-emission properties. In this study in situ synthesis of gold Au decorated CNTs ((Au)-CNTs) has been performed using electrical arc discharge between two graphitic electrodes in HAuCl4 solution, for enhancing the field emission property of the CNTs. The prepared Au-CNTs have been well-characterized using a variety of approaches, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and optical absorption spectroscopy. We find that Au-CNTs can enhance the field emission capability of the CNTs.