Field emission properties of carbon nanotubes coated with boron nitride

Field emission properties of carbon nanotubes coated with a single layer of boron nitride are calculated using the first-principles pseudopotential method. At lower bias voltage, the emission current of the coated nanotube is comparable to that of the bare carbon nanotube and is dominated by the contribution from localized states at the tip of the tube. At higher voltage, newly generated hybridized states between the carbon nanotube tip and the even-membered boron nitride rings contribute significantly to the emission current because they experience a low tunneling barrier compared with the bare carbon nanotube case. Our results suggest that the insulator coating can, besides protecting the nanotube tip from the attack of gas molecules, substantially enhance the field emission current.