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Boron nitride nanotube growth via boron oxide assisted chemical vapor transport-deposition process using LiNO3 as a promoter

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Abstract

High-purity straight and discrete multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) were grown via a boron oxide vapor reaction with ammonia using LiNO3 as a promoter. Only a trace amount of boron oxide was detected as an impurity in the BNNTs by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Raman spectroscopies. Boron oxide vapor was generated from a mixture of B, FeO, and MgO powders heated to 1,150 °C, and it was transported to the reaction zone by flowing ammonia. Lithium nitrate was applied to the upper side of a BN bar from a water solution. The bar was placed along a temperature gradient zone in a horizontal tubular furnace. BNNTs with average diameters of 30–50 nm were mostly observed in a temperature range of 1,280–1,320 °C. At higher temperatures, curled polycrystalline BN fibers appeared. Above 1,320 °C, the number of BNNTs drastically decreased, whereas the quantity and diameter of the fibers increased. The mechanism of BNNT and fiber growth is proposed and discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Science and Technology “MISIS”, Leninskiy prospect 4, Moscow, 119049, Russia

    Andrei T. Matveev, Konstantin L. Firestein, Alexander E. Steinman, Andrey M. Kovalskii & Dmitry V. Shtansky

  2. CRISMAT, UMR 6508, CNRS-ENSICAEN, 6Bd Marechal Juin, Caen, 14050, France

    Oleg I. Lebedev

  3. Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1, Ibaraki, Tsukuba, 3050044, Japan

    Dmitri Golberg

Authors
  1. Andrei T. Matveev
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  2. Konstantin L. Firestein
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  3. Alexander E. Steinman
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  4. Andrey M. Kovalskii
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  5. Oleg I. Lebedev
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  6. Dmitry V. Shtansky
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  7. Dmitri Golberg
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Correspondence to Andrei T. Matveev, Dmitry V. Shtansky or Dmitri Golberg.

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Matveev, A.T., Firestein, K.L., Steinman, A.E. et al. Boron nitride nanotube growth via boron oxide assisted chemical vapor transport-deposition process using LiNO3 as a promoter. Nano Res. 8, 2063–2072 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0717-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0717-y

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