F F Xu et al 2003 New J. Phys. 5 118 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/5/1/118
The tubular conical helix of graphitic boron nitride
Focus on Carbon NanotubesF F Xu, Y Bando1 and D Golberg
Show affiliationsPart of Focus on Carbon Nanotubes
We employed a novel synthetic route for the generation of a boron nitride (BN) filamentary nanostructure. A pre-formed filamentary microstructure was used as a template instead of a conventional metal catalyst. BN nanotubes exhibiting the geometry of an Archimedes spiral were obtained via a post-heating process at temperatures above 1750 °C on the intermediate BN microstructures pre-formed under heating to 1700 °C. An enthalpy was found to primarily determine the structures of the resultant helical–conical nanotubes (HCNTs). Therefore, the structural parameters, particularly the apex angles of the cones, can be easily varied via simple annealing. This unique structural property is favourable to interlayer sliding in the HCNT structure, as was documented during electron beam induced deformation. HCNTs can be bent by an angle as high as 180° at room temperature and, then, fully recover the starting morphology after the release of an external stress, exhibiting a spring-like behaviour. The striking elasticity and flexibility of these nanotubes stem from both the high stiffness and the extraordinary flexibility of the BN filaments, and the ease of interlayer sliding in a graphitic structure. The novel BN tubular geometry broadens the range of known helical cone structures. Structural models were developed taking into account the disclination angles or apex angles, wrapping modes, coincidence site lattices and packing patterns of the BN HCNTs.
- PACS
-
61.46.-w Structure of nanoscale materials
81.40.Gh Other heat and thermomechanical treatments
68.37.Lp Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
- Subjects
-
Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
- Dates
-
Issue 1 (September 2003)
Received 30 June 2003
Published 30 September 2003
-
The tubular conical helix of graphitic boron nitride
F F Xu et al 2003 New J. Phys. 5 118
-
The non-equilibrium nature of culinary evolution
Osame Kinouchi et al 2008 New J. Phys. 10 073020
-
Long-distance quantum key distribution in optical fibre
P A Hiskett et al 2006 New J. Phys. 8 193
-
Coupling of evanescent s-polarized waves to the far field by waveguide modes in metallic arrays
Marcelo Lester and Diana C Skigin 2007 J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 9 81
-
Causal structure of analogue spacetimes
Carlos Barceló et al 2004 New J. Phys. 6 186
-
Spontaneous creation of inflationary universes and the cosmic landscape
Hassan Firouzjahi et al JHEP09(2004)060
-
Final report on key comparison CCT-K4 of local realizations of aluminium and silver freezing-point temperatures
H G Nubbemeyer and J Fischer 2002 Metrologia 39 03001
-
Large-scale fluctuation structures in plasma turbulence
O Grulke and T Klinger 2002 New J. Phys. 4 67
-
Active enhancement of the absorbent properties of a porous material
Denis Thenail et al 1994 Smart Mater. Struct. 3 18
-
Dark matter in supersymmetric models with axino LSP in Randall-Sundrum II brane model
Jin U Kang and Grigoris Panotopoulos JHEP05(2008)036
Users also read
What's this?- Transport theory of carbon nanotube Y junctions
- Sensitivity of single multiwalled carbon nanotubes to the environment
- Double resonance Raman spectroscopy of single-wall carbon nanotubes
Related review articles
What's this?- Growth mechanisms for doped clusters
- Computational studies of doped nanostructures
- Dewetting-mediated pattern formation in nanoparticle assemblies