Multiscale model of heat dissipation mechanisms during field emission from carbon nanotube fibers

Abstract

A multiscale model of field emission (FE) from carbon nanotube fibers (CNFs) is developed, which takes into account Joule heating within the fiber and radiative cooling and the Nottingham effect at the tip of the individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the array located at the fiber tip. The model predicts the fraction of CNTs being destroyed as a function of the applied external electric field and reproduces many experimental features observed in some recently investigated CNFs, such as order of magnitude of the emission current (mA range), low turn on electric field (fraction of V/μm), deviation from pure Fowler-Nordheim behavior at large applied electric field, hysteresis of the FE characteristics, and a spatial variation of the temperature along the CNF axis with a maximum close to its tip of a few hundred °C.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 18, 2016
Source ID
10.1063/1.4940390

Entities

People

  • G. J. Gruen
  • M. Cahay
  • P. T. Murray
  • Steven B. Fairchild
  • T. C. Back
  • Wenjuan Zhu

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory
  • United States Air Force
  • University of Cincinnati
  • University of Dayton

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Plasma Physics.