The complexities and functionalities of carbon nanotube (CNT) architectures can be enhanced even further by the addition of nanoparticles of different kinds. Here, a simple and easily scalable energy efficient infiltration technique is demonstrated to incorporate iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) particles into aligned forests of CNTs grown by chemical vapor deposition. Scanning electron microscopy and in situ confocal microscopy confirm the presence of Fe₃O₄ and also explain the mechanism of infiltration and entrapment in the nanotube films. The obtained hybrid films are demonstrated to be excellent field emitters. The infiltration of nanoparticle results in an order of magnitude improvement in the turn‐on field, which can be attributed to several advantageous factors such as reduced screening effects, improved conductivity, and local electric field enhancement in the proximity of the particles. The present method is generic and thus can be applied to other magnetic particles and porous host materials aiming at innovative sensor, electrical and environmental applications.

中文翻译：

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磁性纳米粒子渗透到CNT阵列中以增强场发射的一步法

碳纳米管（CNT）结构的复杂性和功能性可以通过添加不同种类的纳米颗粒来进一步提高。在这里，展示了一种简单且易于扩展的节能渗透技术，该技术可将氧化铁（Fe ₃ O ₄）颗粒掺入通过化学气相沉积法生长的CNT排列的森林中。扫描电子显微镜和原位共聚焦显微镜证实了Fe ₃ O ₄的存在并解释了纳米管膜中渗透和截留的机理。所获得的混合膜被证明是优异的场致发射体。纳米粒子的渗透导致开启场的改善，其数量级提高可归因于几个有利因素，例如降低的屏蔽效果，提高的电导率以及在粒子附近增强局部电场。本方法是通用的，因此可以应用于其他磁性颗粒和多孔基质材料，以用于创新的传感器，电气和环境应用。