Article Title

Heating graphene to incandescence and the measurement of its work function by the thermionic emission method

Authors

Feng Zhu, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Xiaoyang Lin, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Peng Liu, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Kaili Jiang, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Yang Wei, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Yang Wu, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Jiaping Wang, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China
Shoushan Fan, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics and Tsinghua–Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, China

Keywords

graphene, carbon nanotube, thermionic emission, work function

Abstract

ABSTRACT The work function (WF) of graphene is an essential parameter in graphene electronics. We have derived the WF of graphene by the thermionic emission method. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown single-layered polycrystalline graphene on copper foil was transferred to a cross-stacked carbon nanotube (CNT) film drawn from a super-aligned multiwalled CNT array. By decreasing the pore size of the CNT film, the as-prepared CNT-graphene film (CGF) can be Joule heated to a temperature as high as 1,800 K in vacuum without obvious destruction in the graphene structure. By studying the thermionic emission, we derive the WF of graphene, ranging from 4.7 to 4.8 eV with the average value being 4.74 eV. Because the substrate influence can be minimized by virtue of the porous nature of the CNT film and the influence of adsorbents can be excluded due to the high temperature during the thermionic emission, the measured WF of graphene can be regarded as intrinsic.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0423-1

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Feng Zhu,Xiaoyang Lin,Peng Liu,Kaili Jiang,Yang Wei,Yang Wu,Jiaping Wang,Shoushan Fan, Heating graphene to incandescence and the measurement of its work function by the thermionic emission method. NanoRes.2014, 7(4): 553–560