Field emission and electrical properties of imogolite

Abstract

We demonstrate field emission (FE) properties of imogolite including turn-on field and life time stability. Imogolite is found to be a good electron emitter under external electric field. The conductance of bound water molecules adsorbed on imogolite surface is measured and compared with bulk water molecules at various pH values, i.e., at various proton concentrations. At low concentration, most protons pass through bound water on imogolite rather than bulk water. At high concentration, on the other hand, protons move more easily through bulk water than bound water. Explanations are given in this paper.