Anomalous dependence of carbon nanotubes work function on humidity

The impact of humidity on the single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes field emission characteristics, such as work function and emission current, was studied. The behavior of carbon nanotubes on Si, Al, stainless steel and polyethylene naphthalate substrates during humidity changing was compared with pristine metals and other materials without nanotubes. Work function of the samples was measured in ambient conditions and in humidity range of 25-100 %. The strong correlation between work function and humidity of carbon nanotubes was found and strong anticorrelation was observed for control samples without CNT.