Journal article

Publication year: 2016

Pages: 267-272

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Volume number: 11

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.277

Publisher: Nature Research

Abstract: 

Electron emission is critical for a host of modern fabrication and
analysis applications including mass spectrometry, electron imaging and
nanopatterning. Here, we report that monolayers of diamondoids
effectively confer dramatically enhanced field emission properties to
metal surfaces. We attribute the improved emission to a significant
reduction of the work function rather than a geometric enhancement. This
effect depends on the particular diamondoid isomer, with
[121]tetramantane-2-thiol reducing gold's work function from ∼5.1 eV
to 1.60 ± 0.3 eV, corresponding to an increase in current by a factor
of over 13,000. This reduction in work function is the largest reported
for any organic species and also the largest for any air-stable compound^1,2,3. This effect was not observed for sp³-hybridized
alkanes, nor for smaller diamondoid molecules. The magnitude of the
enhancement, molecule specificity and elimination of gold metal
rearrangement precludes geometric factors as the dominant contribution.
Instead, we attribute this effect to the stable radical cation of
diamondoids. Our computed enhancement due to a positively charged
radical cation was in agreement with the measured work functions to
within ±0.3 eV, suggesting a new paradigm for low-work-function coatings
based on the design of nanoparticles with stable radical cations.

Harvard Citation style: Narasimha, K., Ge, C., Fabbri, J., Clay, W., Tkachenko, B., Fokin, A., et al. (2016) Ultralow effective work function surfaces using diamondoid monolayers, Nature Nanotechnology, 11, pp. 267-272. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.277

APA Citation style: Narasimha, K., Ge, C., Fabbri, J., Clay, W., Tkachenko, B., Fokin, A., Schreiner, P., Dahl, J., Carlson, R., Shen, Z., & Melosh, N. (2016). Ultralow effective work function surfaces using diamondoid monolayers. Nature Nanotechnology. 11, 267-272. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.277