The authors report on the field emission from an aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) bundle grown by thermal chemical vapor deposition. The CNT bundle showed a low-threshold electric field of $2.0\mathrm{V}∕\mu \mathrm{m}$ that produced a current density of $10\mathrm{mA}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ , sustainable evolution of current density up to $2.8\mathrm{A}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ at $2.9\mathrm{V}∕\mu \mathrm{m}$ , and good emission stability without degradation for $200\mathrm{h}$ of continuous dc emission. By calculating the electric-field distribution, it was found that the electric field was significantly higher at the edge of the CNT bundle than at the center. The excellent field-emission properties of the aligned CNT bundle were attributed to the edge effect and the high-density structure.

By using the excellent optical and electrical properties of pristine SWNTs with long bundle lengths, we present single-walled carbon nanotube–silicon (SWNT/Si) solar cells of 11% power conversion efficiency (PCE), prepared without doping. The PCEs of the fabricated solar cells even increased slightly after 10 months of exposure to ambient conditions, without any external protection. The open-circuit voltage of the SWNT/Si solar cells under low light intensities, down to 10 mW cm⁻², demonstrated the characteristics of the ideal p–n junction model. The mechanism was discussed, taking into account the effect of varying the interfacial oxide layer thickness between the SWNTs and Si on the solar cell’s performance. The high efficiency and stability demonstrated in this study make SWNT/Si solar cells one of practical choices for next generation energy system.