Controllable fabrication and characterization of conical nanocarbon structures on polymer substrate for transparent and flexible field emission displays

The direct fabrication of fully transparent conical nanocarbon structures (CNCSs) of controlled nanoscopic dimension on a flexible nafion substrate was achieved, using field electron source, by a novel room temperature ion irradiation technique. By controlling the sizes (below the wavelength of visible light) of the CNCSs, the transparency of the substrate can be tailored satisfactorily. The transparency of the CNCSs was observed to be around 90% in the visible regime depending on the ion irradiation time. Our results suggest that the direct fabrication of well controlled fully transparent CNCSs on any transparent and flexible substrate at room temperature could open a novel route for potential applications in future highly transparent, flexible (bendable), low weight and portable field emission displays (FEDs).