Preparation of silver nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes via photothermal heating and their field emission characteristics

•Silver nanoparticles rapidly formed on the surfaces of carbon nanotubes by photothermal heating.•The field emission characteristics of Ag nanoparticles decorated carbon nanotubes were enhanced compared to carbon nanotubes.•The deposition of silver nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes improved the field emission stability. Silver (Ag) nanoparticles decorated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were rapidly formed by the photothermal heating provided by infrared (IR) irradiation. The method was implemented without any solvent, reductants and applied current. By optimizing the amount of precursors and photothermal heating time, the size of the silver nanoparticles could also be controlled. After decoration of the silver nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes, the field emission characteristics were noted to be enhanced, while the turn-on electric field (at the current density of 10 μA/cm2) and threshold electric field (at the current density of 1 mA/cm2) decreased. At 10% mol Ag loading, the current did not exhibit decay for four hours at the current density of 1 mA/cm2.