Growth of Large-Scale Praseodymium Hexaborides (PrB6) Nanowires and Enhanced Field-Emission Performance

Abstract

Large-scale PrB6 nanowires were fabricated by an effective, catalyst-free, and a simple low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) process. These nanowires, characterized in detail by various analytical instruments, demonstrated the large aspect ratio and high single-crystalline grown along the [001] crystal direction perpendicular to the (001) crystal plane. The field electron emission equipment tests manifest that the asgrown PrB6 products have a low turn-on field (Eto, 2.32 V/μm), a threshold field (Ethr, 4.28 V/μm), a high field enhancement factor (β, 2336), as well as a stable current-density (J) of field-emission. The relationships of the field electron emission parameters, such as J, Eto, and β versus cathode gap (d), have been established when d is increased from 500 μm to 800 μm. The outstanding properties suggest that the PrB6 products may be promising emitters in the cold-field-emission cathode application.