Abstract
Highly crystalline and small-diameter boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are synthesized using a triple DC thermal plasma jet with continuous injection of boron feedstock at atmospheric pressure. The reaction pathway to BN phase is analyzed with thermodynamic equilibrium analysis. It is founded that BN formation through a reaction between nitrogen ion and boron is more thermodynamically favorable than recombination of nitrogen ion with electron. Nitrogen ions formed in the strong electric field of the plasma torches actively react with the boron feedstock, resulted in the formation of BN phase. As a result, the high production rate for BNNTs approaching at 22 g/h is achieved. Input power and total gas flow rate about production rate are 3.4 MJ/g and 120 L/g, resulting in the energy cost superior to those reported to date. Consequently, these findings suggest the industrial-scale production of BNNTs through an atmospheric pressure DC thermal plasma reactor.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of the Republic of Korea (2018M3A7B4070992 and 2021M3I3A1084958). Minseok Kim was supported by the Graduate Fellowship funded by the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation.
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Kim, M., Oh, JH., Hong, SH. et al. Synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes in thermal plasma with continuous injection of boron under atmospheric pressure. Journal of Materials Research 37, 4419–4427 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00670-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00670-7