Fabrication of large-area hybrid nanowires arrays as novel field emitters

A hybrid nanomaterial composed of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and CuTCNQ (copper 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) nanowires (NWs) was successfully fabricated in a simple solution method. The electron field emission properties of the hybrid NWs were dramatically improved over those of raw CuTCNQ NWs. The maximum current density of ZnO-CuTCNQ NWs was six times that of the CuTCNQ NWs array. Importantly for ZnO-CuTCNQ NWs, no obvious degradation of current density was observed and the emission current fluctuation was less than 10% during a period of over 4000 seconds. It is of significance that the coating layer of ZnO NPs produced by our approach makes a great contribution to stabilization of organic field emitters and enhancement of their field emission properties. The high emission stability can be also observed for In₂O ₃-CuTCNQ NWs which are fabricated by the same method. It is confirmed that the moderate approach presented herein is of practical significance in stabilization of organic field emitters avoiding decomposition of the core organic materials.