ZnO/CuSCN Nano-Heterostructure as a Highly Efficient Field Emitter: a Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation - dataset

ZnO-based heterojunctions are also attractive for field emission (FE) applications, where electrons are extracted from the surface of a metal/semiconductor by an electrostatic field through quantum mechanical tunneling. In this study, we report a simple and yet very effective low-temperature method for fabricating the ZnO/CuSCN nano heterostructures for field emission applications. By decorating the porous ZnO nanosheets with CuSCN nanocoins, significant improvements in field emission characteristics were observed (ultra-low turn-on field of 0.7 V/µm for an emission current density 10 µA/cm2). Our results were corroborated through first-principles DFT analyses, which predict lower work functions for the ZnO/CuSCN heterostructure compared to the isolated ZnO and CuSCN as the primary origin for improved field emission. These findings demonstrate that the rational design of nanoscale heterostructures can be used as an effective strategy to drastically enhance the field emission characteristics, such as the turn-on and threshold electric fields and emission current density. The experimental and Density functional theory (DFT) theoretical simulation datasets are available in the .xlsx format (can be viewed either by MS Office or Libre Office) comprising 10 datasheets named by their contents. The experimental data comprises of X-ray diffraction pattern of ZnO, CuSCN and ZnO/CuSCN heterostructure films; Raman spectra of ZnO, CuSCN and ZnO/CuSCN heterostructure films; the field emission current versus applied field (J-E) characteristic, the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) data, and the emission current versus time (I-t) data. Data for the DFT optimized structures for the bulk ZnO and CuSCN and the ZnO/CuSCN heterostructure available in the CONTCAR format of the VASP simulation program. The CONTCAR files consist of lattice parameter and atomic positions and can be viewed either by MS Office or WordPad. The density of states (DOS) data are in 2 columns: the first column is the Energy (eV) and the second column is the intensity of the DOS (arb. units). The electrostatic potential data for the naked ZnO and CuSCN surfaces and that of the and ZnO/CuSCN heterostructure are provided. All data can be plotted using any plotting software, e.g., xmgrace, excel.