Carbon nanotubes have a host of properties that make them excellent candidates for electron emitters. A significant amount of\nresearch has been conducted on nanotube-based field-emitters over the past two decades, and they have been investigated for\ndevices ranging from flat-panel displays to vacuum tubes and electron microscopes. Other electron emission mechanisms from\ncarbon nanotubes, such as photoemission, secondary emission, and thermionic emission, have also been studied, although to a\nlesser degree than field-emission. This paper presents an overview of the topic, with emphasis on these less-explored mechanisms,\nalthough field-emission is also discussed. We will see that not only is electron emission from nanotubes promising for electronsource\napplications, but also its study could reveal unusual phenomena and open the door to new devices that are not directly\nrelated to electron beams.
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