Fabrication of ZnO Nanocone Arrays by Using Chemical Etching of ZnO Nanowire Arrays and Their Enhanced Field Emission Properties

We report a significant enhancement of the field emission properties of ZnO nanowires by converting them to ZnO nanocones. The conversion of the morphology was realized by simple chemical etching of ZnO nanowires in an aqueous solution of HCl, while the initial areal density of nanowires was not affected by the conversion. The field emission measurements of ZnO nanowires and nanocones reveal that the field enhancement factor is increased from 1105 (nanowires) to 3703 (nanocones), indicating that the tapered cone-like morphology is more efficient for field emitters. KCI Citation Count: 4