Chen, HuaZhang, Hong-ZhouFu, LanChen, YingWilliams, JamesYu, ChaoYu, Da Peng2015-12-082015-12-080003-6951http://hdl.handle.net/1885/33506This letter reports the electrical and field-emission properties of Au-decorated boron nitride nanotubes (Au-BNNTs). The insulating BNNTs become metallic after Au coating as the Au coverage exceeds a critical value. The Au decoration modifies the work function of the BNNTs and, as a consequence, the field-emission current densities of Au-BNNTs are significantly enhanced. Correspondingly, the turn-on field of the Au-BNNTs is reduced to one third and the emission current density is increased by four orders in contrast to pure BNNTs. The experimental results demonstrate that such Au-BNNTs are promising electron field emitters.Keywords: Boron; Boron nitride; Cladding (coating); Cubic boron nitride; Current density; Fullerenes; Nanopores; Nanostructured materials; Nanostructures; Nanotubes; Nitrides; Nonmetals; American Institute of Physics (AIP); Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT); Critical200810.1063/1.29436532015-12-08