Different one dimensional (1D) carbon nanostructures, such as carbon nanonoodles (CNNs), carbon nanospikes (CNSs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been synthesized via thermal chemical vapour deposition (TCVD) technique. The different 1D morphologies were synthesized by varying the substrate material and the deposition conditions. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). FESEM and TEM images showed that the diameters of the CNNs and CNTs were similar to 40nm while the diameters of the CNSs were around 100 nm. Field emission studies of the as-prepared samples showed that CNSs to be a better field emitter than CNNs, whereas CNTs are the best among the three producing large emission current. The variation of field emission properties with inter-electrode distance has been studied in detail. Also the time dependent field emission studies of all the nanostructures have been carried out. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.