Beyond applications in information technology, medicine, energy storage and environmental technologies, nanotechnology could also find uses in large-scale sciences such as the aerospace industry. Here, we showcase the applications of carbon nanotubes as electron field emitters for neutralizers in satellites, discussing both the fabrication processes and technical prospects.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Dyke, W. P. & Dolan, W. W. Field emission. Adv. Electron. Electron 8, 89 (1956).
Gaertner, G. et al. Modern Developments in Vacuum Electron Sources (Springer Nature, 2018).
The Taiji Scientific Collaboration. China’s first step towards probing the expanding universe and the nature of gravity using a space borne gravitational wave antenna. Commun. Phys. 4, 34 (2021).
Kallmann-Bijl, H., Boyd, R. L. F., Lagow, H., Poloskov, S. M. & Priester, W. Cira 1961: Cospar International Reference Atmosphere (North-Holland Publishing Company, 1961).
Liu, P. et al. Fabrication of field emission cathode by spraying multiwalled carbon nanotubes on screen printed substrate. Solid State Phenomen. 121–123, 247 (2007).
Liu, P. et al. Crystalline multiwall carbon nanotubes and their application as a field emission electron source. Nanotechnology 29, 345601 (2018).
Liu, P. et al. Applications of super-aligned field emission electron source in the ion neutralizer for a RF ion thruster. Vacuum Electronics https://doi.org/10.16540/j.cnki.cn11-2485/tn.2020.04.03 (2020).
Yang, Y. C. et al. In situ fabrication of HfC-decorated carbon nanotube yarns and their field-emission properties. Carbon 48, 531 (2010).
Acknowledgements
The fabrication of SACNT neutralizer has been financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0208400) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and NSFC (51727805). The author specially thanks L. Liu, Y. Chen, K. L. Jiang, S. S. Fan, and J. W. He for help during the preparation of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author has claimed patents (CN ZL201910642707.5, ZL201910642704.1, US 10720296 and 11215171) for the neutralizer.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, P. Super-aligned carbon nanotube neutralizers for aerospace. Nat Rev Electr Eng 1, 73–74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44287-024-00021-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44287-024-00021-0