JP2015114533A - Electron emission element and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electron emission element having flexibility.SOLUTION: The electron emission element 1 includes a first electrode 1a and second electrode 1c that face each other, and a flexible intermediate layer 1b disposed between the first electrode and second electrode. By applying a voltage between the first electrode and second electrode, an electron is emitted from the second electrode.

Description

  The present invention relates to an electron-emitting device that emits electrons by applying a voltage and a method for manufacturing the same.

  Conventionally known charging techniques for photoconductors in copying machines can be broadly divided into contact charging systems and non-contact charging systems. Currently, a method for charging the surface of a photoreceptor by a contact charging method has been put into practical use. In this method, the surface of the photosensitive member is charged by contacting a conductive member such as a conductive roller, a brush, or an elastic blade with the surface of the photosensitive member and discharging between the narrow gaps.

  Among charging methods using such a contact charging method, a roller charging method using a conductive elastic roller as a conductive member is currently widely used from the viewpoint of charging stability. In the roller charging method, a conductive elastic roller is brought into pressure contact with a photosensitive member, and a voltage is applied to the roller to charge the photosensitive member.

  However, when the photosensitive member is charged by the roller charging method and there is a minute defect (pinhole) on the surface of the photosensitive member, an abnormal amount of current is generated from the conductive elastic roller at the defective portion of the photosensitive member surface. A leak occurs. As a result, the surface of the photoconductor is damaged, which adversely affects image formation.

  In the roller charging method, since the photosensitive member is charged by a small discharge generated in a narrow gap with the photosensitive member, ozone and NOx are slightly generated during charging.

  On the other hand, examples of the non-contact charging method include a method using corona discharge. In this method, the surface of the photoreceptor is charged by corona discharge using a very thin wire. In this method, a high voltage power source of about 4 to 10 kV is required to charge the surface of the photoreceptor.

  Furthermore, since a large amount of ozone is generated by the discharge from the wire, there is a problem that not only the human body is adversely affected but also the deterioration of the photoreceptor is accelerated. In order to solve such a problem, for example, a saw tooth type corona charger improved so as to reduce the generation amount of ozone has been commercialized.

  In recent years, electron-emitting devices have been developed as a charging method that can suppress the generation of ozone by a non-contact charging method. As an electron-emitting device, there are various forms such as an MIM (Metal Insulator Metal) type, an MIS (Metal Insulator Semiconductor) type, and a Spitt type.

  When electrons are emitted in the atmosphere, the emitted electrons are adsorbed on gas molecules or particles and become ions or charged particles. By adsorbing the ions to the target object to be charged by an electric field, the object to be charged can be charged. Since the charge amount of the object to be charged depends on the electric field strength between the electron emitting element and the object to be charged, the charging efficiency is improved as the distance between the object to be charged and the electron emitting element is shorter.

  A method of charging a photosensitive member using an electron-emitting device that suppresses generation of ozone is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The electron-emitting device used here is an SP3-bonded boron nitride thin film of about 100 nm, such as 5H-BN, formed on a conductive substrate by plasma, and a spindle-shaped protrusion having a uniform height of 10 μm is formed by laser irradiation. Make it. According to this electron-emitting device, a highly durable electron-emitting device can be manufactured by using a material having extremely high hardness and high heat resistance.

JP 2006-323366 A

  When charging a curved object to be charged, the charging efficiency depends on the distance as described above. Therefore, it is possible to charge more efficiently by using an electron-emitting device that curves in parallel to the object to be charged. However, the above-described electron-emitting device has a problem that it is poor in flexibility because a high-hardness material is used.

  Therefore, if the electron-emitting device is formed in a curved shape after forming the SP3-bonded boron nitride thin film, the thin film is cracked. Further, in the above-described electron-emitting device, nonuniformity of the film affects charging unevenness, so that the heights of the spindle-shaped protrusions must be made uniform. However, in order to form a thin film uniformly on the curved surface using plasma, it is necessary to form a magnetic field in accordance with the shape of the substrate, which requires a very advanced technique. Therefore, it is not easy to align the height of the spindle-shaped projections on the curved surface.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and provides an electron-emitting device capable of easily producing a curved shape and a method for manufacturing the same.

  The present invention includes a first electrode and a second electrode facing each other, and a flexible intermediate layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, and the gap between the first electrode and the second electrode. The present invention provides an electron-emitting device that emits electrons from a second electrode by applying a voltage.

  According to the electron-emitting device of the present invention, since it has a flexible intermediate layer, a curved electron-emitting device can be easily obtained.

1 is a configuration explanatory diagram of an electron emission device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a structure explanatory drawing of the electron-emitting element of Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the electron emission element used for Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a structure explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the electron emission element used for Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing at the time of applying Example 1 to the electron emission apparatus of FIG. It is structure explanatory drawing of the electron emission apparatus of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a structure explanatory drawing of the electron emission apparatus of Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is structure explanatory drawing of the electron emission apparatus of Embodiment 4 of this invention.

  The electron-emitting device according to the present invention has a first electrode and a second electrode facing each other, and a flexible intermediate layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode. Electrons are emitted from the second electrode by applying a voltage between the second electrodes.

The intermediate layer may be formed of a resin, and the intermediate layer may include a conductive material. The conductive material is a material used for adjusting the electric conductivity of the intermediate layer, and for this, for example, conductive fine particles or conductive resin can be used.
The first electrode may be formed on a metal plate or may be formed on an insulating substrate.

According to another aspect, the present invention is the above-described method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, wherein an intermediate layer and a second electrode are formed on a first electrode that is curved in advance, and the second electrode and the intermediate layer are formed as the first electrode. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, characterized by being bent in accordance with an electrode.
In the method for manufacturing the electron-emitting device, the intermediate layer and the second electrode may be formed on the first electrode, and the curved surface may be formed by bending the first and second electrodes and the intermediate layer.

The electron-emitting device according to the present invention is provided on a base material along the shape of the photoconductor of the image forming apparatus and can be installed so as to face the photoconductor to function as a charging device. It can also be used as a sterilizing means in combination with an acceleration device.
In addition, the electron-emitting device of the present invention can function as a charging means for charging a gas or particles using electrons emitted from the second electrode, and emits electrons from the second electrode in a liquid. Therefore, it can also function as a reducing means for reducing the liquid.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on Embodiments 1 to 4 shown in the drawings. The configuration described below is merely an example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an electron emission device 6 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the electron-emitting device 1 includes a first electrode 1a and a second electrode 1c which are formed on the curved surface of the base material 3 and are disposed to face each other. An intermediate layer 1b is provided between the electrode 1c and the electrode 1c. FIG. 2 showing the configuration of the electron-emitting device 1 shows that the intermediate layer 1 b is formed of a resin 7 containing conductive fine particles 8.

In the electron-emitting device 1 of the present invention, since the intermediate layer 1b is the resin 7 containing the conductive fine particles 8, is the intermediate layer 1b formed along the shape of the first electrode 1a curved in accordance with the substrate 3? Alternatively, the intermediate layer 1b formed using a flexible resin in advance can be bent along the curvature of the object 2 by being along the first electrode 1a.
The conductive fine particle 8 is a material used for adjusting electric conductivity, and is not necessarily a fine particle. For example, a conductive resin or the like can also be used as a conductivity adjusting agent. Further, depending on the type of resin, this adjusting agent is unnecessary.

  Furthermore, according to the configuration of the electron-emitting device 1 of the present invention, it is possible to use a resin curable at a low temperature, such as a room temperature curable resin, as the material of the intermediate layer 1b. By using a resin curable at a low temperature, the intermediate layer 1b can be formed without obtaining a baking step at a high temperature, and a large volume change is caused in the intermediate layer 1b and the first electrode 1a having different thermal expansion coefficients. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the first electrode 1a from warping and the intermediate layer 1b from peeling or cracking. For this reason, the partial defect | deletion by peeling of the intermediate | middle layer 1b or the 2nd electrode 1c can be suppressed, and the electron-emitting element which has uniform electron emission performance can be obtained.

  In addition, the electron emission device 6 of the present invention includes the electron emission element 1 and a power source 4a that applies a voltage between the first electrode 1a and the second electrode 1c. The electron emission device 6 applies an appropriate voltage V1 between the first electrode 1a and the second electrode 1c from the power source 4a, thereby accelerating the electrons between the electrodes and causing the electrons from the surface of the second electrode 1c. Are to be released.

  It has been confirmed that the electron-emitting device 1 manufactured according to the present invention can be driven stably in a vacuum and at atmospheric pressure. By driving the electron-emitting device 1 in the atmosphere, molecules in the atmosphere can be ionized by electrons emitted from the surface of the second electrode 1c, so that the ion generator can be used in an ion wind cooling device, a charging device, or the like. it can.

  Moreover, since the electron emission apparatus 6 of the present invention does not require a strong electric field outside and accelerates electrons between the internal electrodes, it can emit electrons without generating ozone.

  In FIG. 1, when an electron emission device 6 emits electrons to a cylindrical photoconductor as the object to be charged 2, the emitted electrons adhere to gas molecules in the atmosphere and are immediately ionized. The ions move toward the charged object 2 by the voltage V2 of the power supply 4b applied between the electron emission device 6 and the charged object 2, and charge the charged object 2. As described above, the electron-emitting device 1 of the present invention can be used for a charging device that uniformly charges a charged object (photoconductor) 2 in an image forming apparatus, or for cleaning a transfer device or toner.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the third electrode 10 is placed so as to face the electron-emitting device 1, and the voltage V2 is applied by the power source 4b, whereby the electrons emitted from the electron-emitting device 1 are collected. Or can be accelerated. In a vacuum, electrons generated from the electron-emitting device 1 can be accelerated by the third electrode 10 disposed so as to face the electron-emitting device 1.

  Thereby, when the phosphor layer is arranged on the third electrode 10 side of the electron-emitting device 1, the phosphor layer can emit light by irradiating the phosphor layer with electrons emitted from the second electrode 1c. It can also be used as a self-luminous device. In addition, it can be used as an electron beam source for sterilization, sterilization, EB curing, SEM and other analyzers.

<Example 1>
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the electron-emitting device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The electron-emitting device 1 of this embodiment includes a first electrode 1a, an insulating film 11 formed around the first electrode 1a, an intermediate layer 1b, and a second electrode 1c.

  The first electrode 1a is an electrode substrate that also functions as a substrate, and is composed of a conductive plate-like body. For example, an aluminum plate or a stainless steel plate can be used as the first electrode 1a. Further, the first electrode 1a may be formed by forming a conductive thin film on an insulating substrate such as glass. In this example, a stainless steel plate having a thickness of 0.3 mm was used.

  Next, the intermediate layer 1b that is a characteristic part of the electron-emitting device 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the intermediate layer 1 b includes a main resin 7 and conductive fine particles 8 dispersed in the resin 7. The resin 7 is an insulating resin, and for example, a silicone resin obtained by condensation polymerization of silanol (R3Si—OH) can be used.

  The conductive fine particles 8 can be made of a conductive material such as a metal or a semiconductor. For example, conductive metal particles such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, and aluminum can be used.

  By changing the content of the conductive fine particles 8 with respect to the resin 7, the resistance value of the intermediate layer 1b can be adjusted. Since the conductive fine particles 8 are used for adjusting the conductivity of the intermediate layer 1b, noble metals that are difficult to oxidize are more preferable in order to prevent the conductive particles 8 from being oxidized and reduced in conductivity during material adjustment.

  The intermediate layer 1b can be applied to the surface of the first electrode 1a by a spin coating method, a doctor blade method, a spray method, a dipping method or the like using a dispersion liquid in which the resin 7 and the conductive fine particles 8 are mixed.

  In this example, a silicone resin (room temperature curable, manufactured by Toray Dow Corning Co., Ltd.) is placed as a resin 7 in a reagent bottle, and Ag nanoparticles (average diameter 10 nm, insulating coating alcoholate 1 nm film) are formed as conductive fine particles 8. Applied Nanoparticles Laboratories Co., Ltd.) was mixed, and the reagent bottle containing the above mixed solution was placed in an ultrasonic vibrator to disperse the conductive fine particles 8 in the resin 7 to prepare a dispersion.

  The ratio of the resin 7 and the conductive fine particles 8 is preferably in the range of silicone resin (75 to 98 wt%) and Ag nanoparticles (2 to 25 wt%). By setting it as the ratio of the said dispersion liquid, the resistance value of the intermediate | middle layer 1b is adjusted, and it can discharge | release an electron with the moderate applied voltage of about 5-40V.

  In this example, 80 wt% silicone resin and Ag nanoparticles (20 wt%) were used. The dispersion prepared in this manner was applied to the surface of the first electrode 1a with a thickness of 1.0 μm using a spin coating method, and cured at room temperature to obtain an intermediate layer 1b. Then, a second electrode 1c of Au-Pd having a thickness of 50 nm was formed on the surface of the intermediate layer 1b by sputtering.

  Here, room temperature curable silicone is used as the silicone resin, but the curing method of the silicone resin is not limited. However, the thermosetting silicone resin generally has a curing temperature of 100 ° C. to 150 ° C., and bends due to thermal stress. Therefore, it may not be suitable depending on the material and film thickness of the first electrode 1a. On the other hand, the UV curable silicone resin can be used without being affected by the material and the film thickness of the first electrode 1a because it can be cured by irradiation with UV light, so that no thermal stress is generated.

A method for specifically applying the electron-emitting device 1 of the first embodiment to the electron-emitting device 6 of FIG. 1 will be described.
5A is a view of the electron emission device 6 of FIG. 1 as viewed from the charged object 2 side, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 5A. As shown in these drawings, an insulating film 11 is formed around the upper surface of the first electrode 1a, and the first electrode 1a is exposed from the opening 12 having a width of 10 mm and a length of 234 mm. A dispersion of the resin 7 and the conductive fine particles 8 was applied by spin coating.

  In the formed coating film, the silicone resin is condensed and polymerized by moisture in the atmosphere, and Ag nanoparticles are dispersed in the resin 7 to form the intermediate layer 1b. The film thickness of the intermediate layer 1b varies depending on the magnitude of the voltage applied to the electron-emitting device and the resistance value of the intermediate layer 1b, but can be, for example, 0.3 to 10.0 μm.

  Since the breakdown voltage increases as the thickness of the intermediate layer 1b increases, a higher voltage V1 (FIG. 2) can be applied. Further, in the intermediate layer 1b, the larger the particle diameter of the conductive fine particles 8 and the larger the content of the conductive fine particles 8, the more the conductive fine particles 8 are aggregated, thereby making it easier to form a leak point. Therefore, it is preferable to determine the film thickness to be produced from the particle diameter, content, and aggregation state of the conductive fine particles 8 to be used. Here, the film thickness of the intermediate layer 1b was 1 μm.

  Next, the second electrode 1c was formed on the surface of the intermediate layer 1b using a magnetron sputtering apparatus. Since the 2nd electrode 1c should just be a thing which can apply a voltage with respect to the intermediate | middle layer 1b between 1st electrodes 1a, if it is a material and manufacturing method which have electroconductivity, it will not restrict | limit in particular.

  In addition, if the film thickness of the second electrode 1c is too thick, electrons are trapped by the second electrode 1c and the amount of electrons emitted to the outside is reduced, so that the electron emission efficiency is reduced. . In this example, the second electrode 1c having a film thickness of 50 nm, a width of 15 mm, and a length of 244 mm was formed using Au—Pd as a material.

  When the film thickness is small and the element area is large, a potential gradient is likely to be generated on the second electrode 1c. Therefore, the second electrode 1c outside the opening 12 is thickened or a bus line is formed to reduce the potential gradient. It is preferable to eliminate it.

  Next, a photosensitive member for an electrophotographic copying machine having an outer diameter of 30 mm was used as the object to be charged 2 shown in FIG. Therefore, the electron-emitting device 1 manufactured as described above was bonded onto the base material 3 curved so as to fit a curved surface having an outer diameter of 30 mm. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the screw 13 is used as the bonding method, but an adhesive, a pressure-sensitive adhesive, or the like may be used.

  The material of the base material 3 is not limited as long as the electron-emitting device 1 can be held. However, in the case of a base material having conductivity such as metal, an insulating film is inserted between the base material 3 and the first electrode 1a so that no leak current flows from the first electrode 1a to the peripheral member through the base material 3. It is necessary to apply insulation treatment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the manufactured electron-emitting device 1 has a metal tube inside the photosensitive member 2 as an object to be charged 2 connected to the ground, a DC voltage V1 of 20V is applied from the power source 4a, and a power source 4b is 600V. The voltage difference between the second electrode 1c and the object to be charged 2 was set to 600V.

  The gap between the second electrode 1c and the object to be charged 2 was set to 1 mm. At this time, the charged potential of the object 2 to be charged, that is, the surface of the photoreceptor was 550V to 600V.

<Example 2>
The electron-emitting device of Example 2 differs from the electron-emitting device of Example 1 in that the first electrode 1a is formed on a flexible resin film. The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Although it will not specifically limit if it is a resin film which has appropriate flexibility as a flexible resin film, Here, the 200-micrometer-thick insulating heat dissipation sheet (made by Denka) was used. Since the first electrode using this insulating heat radiation sheet is more flexible than the first electrode of Example 1, the electron-emitting device 1 is deformed to match the shape of the object to be charged 2. Is easier.

  As a processing method, the first electrode 1a having a thickness of 0.5 μm is formed on the film by using a coating method such as sputtering, vapor deposition, ink jet, spin coating, spraying or plating. The first electrode 1a can also be formed by adhering a conductive film on the film by pressure bonding or the like. In addition, about the 1st electrode 1a, if electroconductivity is securable, there will be no restriction | limiting in thickness. However, if the first electrode 1a is too thick and there is a large step with respect to the film, the upper intermediate layer 1b and the electrode 1c may be broken at that portion, so that the step cannot be stepped with respect to the film. Is preferable.

  On the 1st electrode 1a formed in this way, the intermediate | middle layer 1b was produced like the method described in Example 1. FIG. In addition, since the adhesive force between the metal and the resin is generally weak, the adhesive force may be reinforced by using a primer treatment or the like as appropriate. As a method for producing the second electrode 1c, the thin film forming method described in Example 1 was used. However, the difference from Example 1 is that the film is more flexible than the first electrode of Example 1 and can be easily rolled.

  Therefore, since the second electrode 1c can be simultaneously formed by sputtering a film in which a plurality of patterns of the electron-emitting device 1 as shown in FIG. 5 are arranged by a roll-to-roll method, mass production can be performed more easily. Become. The electron-emitting device 1 produced in this way can be cut out for each pattern shape and used by being fixed to a curved substrate.

<Example 3>
The feature of the electron emission device of Example 3 is that the intermediate layer 1b is formed on the first electrode 1a having a curved surface processed in advance in accordance with the shape of the object to be charged 2 in the manufacturing method. The rest of the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the configuration thereof is shown in FIG.

  In addition, as a method of forming the intermediate layer 1b on the first electrode 1a having a curved surface in advance, a coating method such as dipping or spraying can be used. These coating methods can form a uniform film even on a curved surface.

  Moreover, as a manufacturing method of the 2nd electrode 1c, a sputtering method, an electroless plating method, etc. are mentioned similarly to Example 1. FIG. In addition, when using an electroless plating method, it is not necessary to consider the influence on a curved surface, but it is necessary to consider the combination of the type of resin and the treatment liquid.

  However, in this embodiment, since the first electrode 1a has a curved surface in advance, the distance between the metal target and the intermediate layer 1b at the time of sputtering differs, and the second electrode 1b of the electron-emitting device 1 depends on the pattern production position. The film thickness becomes non-uniform and causes variations among elements. Therefore, at the time of forming the second electrode 1b, a substrate on which a plurality of patterns are arranged is covered with a mask and manufactured one by one, or a plurality of patterns are cut out to form the second electrode 1b, or an electron A treatment for making the film thickness of the surface electrode uniform by adding a mechanism for performing sputtering while rotating the emitting element is required.

  Here, in the case of the electron-emitting device 1 having a curved surface, when the second electrode 1c is manufactured by a sputtering method, the film thickness near the metal target increases due to the curvature. In the case of patterning the electron-emitting device 1 having a curved surface so that the second electrode 1c is inside as shown in FIG. 5B, the thickness of the end of the second electrode 1c that is close to the metal target due to the curvature. However, it is thicker than the central part far from the metal target. And since the thickness of the 2nd electrode 1c is not uniform, nonuniformity arises in the amount of electron emission. This is because the amount of electrons recovered to the second electrode 1c increases and the emission amount decreases as the thickness increases as described above.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, since the object to be charged 2 is the photosensitive member and the charging surface rotates in the direction of arrow R, the longitudinal direction (axial direction) of the photosensitive member does not vary even in the electron emission amount in the rotational direction. It is not affected by charging unevenness. Therefore, the second electrode 1b may have uneven thickness in the rotation direction. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture the electron-emitting device 1 using the above-described method, that is, the method of covering the pattern with a mask one by one, but the radius and circumference of the curved surface and the presence or absence of movement of the charged object 2 And you need to consider the direction.

Embodiment 2
FIGS. 6A and 6B are configuration explanatory views of an electron emission device 61 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 6A is an external perspective view, and FIG.
In this embodiment, the electron-emitting device 1 manufactured in Example 2 is formed in a cylindrical shape so that the second electrode 1 c is on the inside, and electrons are emitted toward the inside of the electron-emitting device 1. As a method of forming the electron-emitting device 1 in a cylindrical shape, the electron-emitting device 1 manufactured in Example 2 is formed on the inner wall of an aluminum tube 114 having a thickness of 1 mm, an inner diameter of 20 mm, and a length of 5 cm. Install to be.

  At this time, in order to adhere the electron-emitting device 1 to the inner surface of the aluminum tube 114, a pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied in advance to the film surface of the first electrode 1a so as to have adhesiveness.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the rod-shaped third electrode 110 is fixed to the center of the aluminum tube 114 using a fixing member (not shown). As the third electrode 110, a stainless steel round bar having an outer diameter of 3 mm is used.

  Nitrogen gas was allowed to flow into the cylindrical electron emission device 61 thus manufactured, and an AC voltage V1 of 500 Hz and 18 V was applied from the power source 4a, and a DC voltage V2 of 1 kV was applied from the power source 4b. As a result, electrons adhered to the gas and suspended particles, and the gas and particles could be negatively charged. Since the charged gas is discharged out of the electron emission device 61 as ions, it can be used as an ion generation device.

  In addition, when the particles are charged, a filter is provided when discharging the charged particles to the outside of the electron emission device 61, so that the particles can be collected more efficiently than when the particles are not charged. . Further, when the saturation charge amount of the particles is known, the number concentration of the particles can be measured from the charge amount collected by the filter.

  In the vicinity of the second electrode 1c that is the electron emission surface, the ionized particles are attracted to the third electrode 110 by an electric field. However, the faster the flow of the gas containing the particles, the more the particles collide with the second electrode 1c in accordance with the gas flow, so that the second electrode 1c is easily worn. Therefore, the slower the gas flow rate, the better. Further, the gas and particles can be charged even when a DC voltage is applied as the voltage V1 from the power source 4a.

Embodiment 3
7A and 7B are explanatory views of the configuration of an electron emission device 62 according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 7A is an external perspective view, and FIG. Here, the electron-emitting device 1 manufactured in Example 2 is formed in a cylindrical shape with the second electrode 1c on the outside. By forming it in a cylindrical shape, it becomes possible to emit electrons outward from the outer peripheral surface of the electron-emitting device 1.

  As a method for producing a cylindrical shape, a pressure-sensitive adhesive or an adhesive is applied to the back surface of the first electrode 1 a and adhered to the rod-shaped member 17. Since this rod-shaped member only needs to have an insulating property and can hold the shape of the electron-emitting device 1 in a cylindrical shape, a round rod having a diameter of 5 mm made of resin is used here. In addition, as a method for manufacturing the electron-emitting device 1, the intermediate layer 1b may be formed on a conductive rod as a base material using a dipping method or the like, and the first electrode 1c may be manufactured using sputtering or plating.

  The cylindrical electron-emitting device 1 produced in this way is set inside a plastic plastic bottle container 120 having a mouth inner diameter of 21.8 mm, and a DC voltage V1 of 15V from the power source 4a is set to 600V from the power source 4b in a vacuum. DC voltage V2 is applied. And when the electron accelerated to the inside of the container 120 is irradiated with an electron beam accelerator, the electron beam sterilization of the PET bottle container 120 is performed similarly to the electron beam container sterilization apparatus described in the patent document (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-26000). It becomes possible.

Embodiment 4
FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an electron emission device 63 according to the fourth embodiment. Since the electron-emitting device 63 in this embodiment is the same as that obtained by removing the third electrode 110 from Embodiment 2 (FIG. 6), detailed description thereof is omitted. Further different from the second embodiment is that the electron emitting device 63 is waterproofed by using a waterproof sealing member 130 so that both ends of the first electrode 1a do not come into contact with the liquid.

  By immersing the electron emission device 63 in water and applying a DC voltage V1 of 8 V from the power source 4a, water is reduced and hydrogen is generated in the same manner as the electron emission device described in the patent document (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-98119). It becomes possible to do. Moreover, by making the second electrode 1c into a pleat shape, the contact area with the reduction target is increased and reduction can be performed efficiently.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electron emission element 1a 1st electrode 1b Intermediate layer 1c 2nd electrode 2 To-be-charged object 3 Base material 4a Power supply 4b Power supply 6 Electron emission apparatus 7 Resin 8 Conductive fine particle 10 3rd electrode 11 Insulating film 13 Screw 17 Base material 61 Electron Emission device 62 Electron emission device 63 Electron emission device 110 Third electrode 114 Aluminum tube 120 PET bottle container 130 Sealing member

Claims (11)

  A first electrode and a second electrode facing each other, and a flexible intermediate layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode An electron-emitting device that emits electrons from the second electrode.   2. The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer is made of a resin.   The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer includes a conductive material.   The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the first electrode is formed on a metal plate.   The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the first electrode is formed on an insulating substrate.   2. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer and the second electrode are formed on the first electrode curved in advance, and the second electrode and the intermediate layer are curved along the first electrode. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, which is characterized.   2. The method of manufacturing an electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer and the second electrode are formed on the first electrode, and the curved surface is formed by bending the first and second electrodes and the intermediate layer. A method for manufacturing an electron-emitting device, which is characterized.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is provided on a base material along a shape of a photoconductor, and is disposed so as to face the photoconductor to function as a charging device. Electron-emitting devices.   The electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electron-emitting device functions as a sterilizing unit in combination with an electron beam accelerator.   The electron-emitting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electron-emitting device functions as a charging unit that charges a gas or particles using electrons emitted from the second electrode.   The electron-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the electron-emitting device functions as a reducing unit that reduces the liquid by discharging electrons from the second electrode in the liquid.

Images