Facile Synthesis of Ternary Boron Carbonitride Nanotubes

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 4; no. 8; pp. 834 - 838
• Main Authors: Luo, Lijie, Mo, Libin, Tong, Zhangfa, Chen, Yongjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 01-08-2009; Springer
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; B–C–N nanotubes; Characterization; Synthesis; Stainless steel foil; VLS model
• ISSN: 1556-276X; 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11671-009-9325-7

In this study, a novel and facile approach for the synthesis of ternary boron carbonitride (B–C–N) nanotubes was reported. Growth occurred by heating simple starting materials of boron powder, zinc oxide powder, and ethanol absolute at 1150 °C under a mixture gas flow of nitrogen and hydrogen. As substrate, commercial stainless steel foil with a typical thickness of 0.05 mm played an additional role of catalyst during the growth of nanotubes. The nanotubes were characterized by SEM, TEM, EDX, and EELS. The results indicate that the synthesized B–C–N nanotubes exhibit a bamboo-like morphology and B, C, and N elements are homogeneously distributed in the nanotubes. A catalyzed vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism was proposed for the growth of the nanotubes.