The configurations, stability and electronic structures of a new class of boron sheet and related boron nanotubes are predicted within the framework of density functional theory. This boron sheet is sparser than those of recent proposals. Our theoretic results show that the stable boron sheet remains flat and is metallic. There are bands similar to the p-bands in graphite near the Fermi level. Stable nanotubes with various diameters and chiral vectors can be rolled from the sheet. Within our study, only the thin (8, 0) nanotube with a band gap of 0.44 eV is semiconducting, while all the other thicker boron nanotubes are metallic, independent of their chirality. It indicates the possibility, in the design of nanodevices, to control the electronic transport properties of the boron nanotube through the diameter.
We investigate the symmetry of the boron buckyball and a related boron nanotube. Using large-scale ab-initio calculations up to second-order Møller Plesset perturbation theory, we have determined unambiguously the equilibrium geometry/symmetry of two structurally related boron clusters: the B80 fullerene and the finite-length (5,0) boron nanotube. The B80 cluster was found to have the same symmetry, Ih, as the C60 molecule since its 20 additional boron atoms are located exactly at the centers of the 20 hexagons. Additionally, we also show that the (5,0) boron nanotube does not suffer from atom…
We present a new class of boron sheets, composed of triangular and hexagonal motifs, that are more stable than structures considered to date and thus are likely to be the precursors of boron nanotubes. We describe a simple and clear picture of electronic bonding in boron sheets and highlight the importance of three-center bonding and its competition with two-center bonding, which can also explain the stability of recently discovered boron fullerenes. Our findings call for reconsideration of the literature on boron sheets, nanotubes, and clusters.
Cathodoluminescence imaging and spectroscopy experiments on a single bamboo-like boron nitride nanotube are reported. Imaging experiments show that the luminescence is located all along the nanotube. Spectroscopy experiments point out the important role of dimensionality in this one dimensional object.
Based on a numerical ab initio study, we discuss a structure model for a broad boron sheet, which is the analog of a single graphite sheet, and the precursor of boron nanotubes. The sheet has linear chains of sp hybridized sigma bonds lying only along its armchair direction, a high stiffness, and anisotropic bonds properties. The puckering of the sheet is explained as a mechanism to stabilize the sp sigma bonds. The anisotropic bond properties of the boron sheet lead to a two-dimensional reference lattice structure, which is rectangular rather than triangular. As a consequence the chiral angle…
The recent discovery of pure boron nanotubes raises questions about their detailed atomic structure. Previous simulations predicted tubular structures with smooth or puckered surfaces. Here, we present some novel results based on ab initio simulations of bundled single-wall zigzag boron nanotubes (ropes). Besides the known smooth and puckered modifications, we found new forms that are radially constricted, and which seem to be energetically superior to the known isomers. Furthermore, those structures might be interpreted as intermediate states between ideal tubular phases and the known bulk ph…
Ab initio density-functional theory study suggests that pillared Li-dispersed boron carbide nanotubes is capable of storing hydrogen with a mass density higher than 6.0 weight% and a volumetric density higher than 45 g/L. The boron substitution in carbon nanotube greatly enhances the binding energy of Li atom to the nanotube, and this binding energy (~ 2.7 eV) is greater than the cohesive energy of lithium metal (~1.7 eV), preventing lithium from aggregation (or segregation) at high lithium doping concentration. The adsorption energy of hydrogen on the Li-dispersed boron carbide nanotube is in…
We report on the measurement of the effective radial modulus of multiwalled Boron Nitride nanotubes with external radii in the range 3.7 to 36 nm and number of layers in between 5 and 48. These Boron Nitride nanotubes are radially much stiffer than previously reported thinner and smaller Boron Nitride nanotubes. Here, we show the key role of the morphology of the nanotubes in determining their radial rigidity, in particular we find that the external and internal radii, R_ext and R_int, have a stronger influence on the radial modulus than the NT's thickness, t. We find that the effective radial…
We investigate the field emission properties of nitrogenated and boronated carbon nanotubes using time-dependent density functional theory, were the wave function propagation is performed using the Crank-Nicholson algorithm. We extract the current-voltage characteristics of the emitted electrons from nanotubes with different doping configurations. We found that boron doping either impedes, or slightly enhances, field emission. Nitrogen strongly influences the emission current, and the current is sensitive to the location of the nitrogen dopant in the nanotube. The emitted charge cloud from nit…
Ab initio calculations of the spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric properties of boron nitride nanotubes show that they are excellent piezoelectric systems with response values larger than those of piezoelectric polymers. The intrinsic chiral symmetry of the nanotubes induces an exact cancellation of the total spontaneous polarization in ideal, isolated nanotubes of arbitrary indices. Breaking of this symmetry by inter-tube interaction or elastic deformations induces spontaneous polarization comparable to those of wurtzite semiconductors.
Graphene nanoribbons are prepared inside boron nitride nanotubes by liquid phase encapsulation and subsequent annealing of 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. The product is imaged with high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and characterized by optical absorption and Raman spectroscopy. Carbon-containing material is detected inside the boron nitride nanotubes with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The observed structures twist under the electron beam and the characteristic features of nanoribbons appear in the Raman spectra.
Boron-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were synthesized using a methanol solution of boric acid as a source material. Accurate measurements of the electrical resistivity of an individual boron-doped MWNT was performed with a four-point contact, which was fabricated using an electron beam lithography technique. The doped boron provides conduction carriers, which reduces the resistivity of the MWNT.
We have studied zig-zag boron nitride (BN) nanotubes doped with the Ni hexagonal-closepacked nanowire. The doped BN nanotubes are ferromagnetic metals with substantial magnetism. Some special magnetic properties resulting from the interaction between the Ni nanowire and BN nanotubes are found. The Ni doped BN(9,0) nanotube shows semi-half-metallic behavior, which could become half-metallic after doping electrons more than 1.4 e/unit cell. The intrinsic halfmetallic behavior could be achieved by two dierent ways: one is coating the Ni nanowire with a smaller BN nanotube, i.e., BN(8,0), the othe…
In an attempt to understand why catalytic methods for the growth of boron nitride nanotubes work much worse than for their carbon counterparts, we use first-principles calculations to study the energetics of elemental reactions forming N2, B2 and BN molecules on an iron catalyst. We observe that in the case of these small molecules, the catalytic activity is hindered by the formation of B2 on the iron surface. We also observe that the local morphology of a step edge present in our nanoparticle model stabilizes the boron nitride molecule with respect to B2 due to the ability of the step edge to…
We present {\it ab initio} and self-consistent tight-binding calculations on the band structure of single wall semiconducting carbon nanotubes with high degrees (up to 25 %) of boron substitution. Besides a lowering of the Fermi energy into the valence band, a regular, periodic distribution of the p-dopants leads to the formation of a dispersive ``acceptor''-like band in the band gap of the undoped tube. This comes from the superposition of acceptor levels at the boron atoms with the delocalized carbon $π$-orbitals. Irregular (random) boron-doping leads to a high concentration of hybrids of ac…
The growth of nanotube films on various substrates and surfaces is vital for applications in nanoscale functional devices. We report a simple and versatile boron (B) ink painting method that enables high-density boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) films with any desired pattern to be grown on, and firmly attached to, different surfaces. In the method, special B ink is first painted, sprayed or inkjet printed at desired location with required pattern, and then the ink layer is annealed in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere to form BNNT film. The B ink is a liquid mixture of ball-milled B particles, met…
In the present work we discuss based on extensive fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations the dynamics of Neon atoms oscillating inside (5,5)single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and boron-nitride (BNNT) ones. Our results show that sustained high frequency oscillatory regimes are possible for a large range of temperatures. Our results also show that the general features of the oscillations are quite similar to CNT and BNNT, in contrast with some speculations in previous work literature about the importance of broken symmetry and chirality exhibited by BNNTs.
We report first-principles calculations of the effects of quasiparticle self-energy and electron-hole interaction on the optical properties of single-walled BN nanotubes. Excitonic effects are shown to be even more important in BN nanotubes than in carbon nanotubes. Electron-hole interactions give rise to complexes of bright (and dark) excitons, which qualitatively alter the optical response. Excitons with binding energy larger than 2 eV are found in the (8,0) BN nanotubes. Moreover, unlike the carbon nanotubes, theory predicts that these exciton states are comprised of coherent supposition of…
Spectro-ptychography offers improved spatial resolution and additional phase spectral information relative to that provided by scanning transmission X-ray microscopes (STXM). However, carrying out ptychography at the lower range of soft X-ray energies (e.g., below 200 eV to 600 eV) on samples with weakly scattering signals can be challenging. We present soft X-ray ptychography results at energies as low as 180 eV and illustrate the capabilities with results from permalloy nanorods (Fe 2p), carbon nanotubes (C 1s), and boron nitride bamboo nanostructures (B 1s, N1s). We describe optimization of…
Nanotubular materials inspired by crystalline diborides such as AlB_2 are proposed. The atomic structure, in particular the basic chemical question of where to put Al atoms in order to stabilize nanotubular Al-B systems, is investigated using density-functional calculations for prototype systems. The optimized tubular prototypes are found to be competitive in energy with their bulk crystalline counterparts. All of the tubular Al-B systems investigated are calculated to be metallic.
Single- and multi-walled molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$) nanotubes have been coaxially grown on small diameter boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) which were synthesized from heteronanotubes by removing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and systematically investigated by optical spectroscopy. The strong photoluminescence (PL) from single-walled MoS$_2$ nanotubes supported by core BNNTs is observed in this work, which evidences a direct band gap structure for single-walled MoS$_2$ nanotubes with around 6 - 7 nm in diameter. The observation is consistent with our DFT results that the single-wa…
Boron nitride is a promising material for nanotechnology applications due to its two-dimensional graphene-like, insulating, and highly-resistant structure. Recently it has received a lot of attention as a substrate to grow and isolate graphene as well as for its intrinsic UV lasing response. Similar to carbon, one-dimensional boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been theoretically predicted and later synthesised. Here we use first principles simulations to unambiguously demonstrate that i) BN nanotubes inherit the highly efficient UV luminescence of hexagonal BN; ii) the application of an exte…
In this paper, structural and electronic properties and stability of (10, 0) born nitride nanotube (BNNT) are considered within density functional theory by doping group IV elements of the periodic table. The HOMO-LUMO gap has been strongly modified and treated a dual manner by choosing B or N sites for dopant atoms. Formation energy calculation shows that B site doping is more stable than N site doping. Results also show that all dopants turn the pristine BNNT into a p-type semiconductor except for carbon-doped BNNT at B site.
We have performed ab initio calculations to systematically investigate electronic properties and magnetism of insulating non-magnetic beryllium monoxide nanotubes induced by non-magnetic sp impurities: boron, carbon and nitrogen. We found that in the presence of these sp impurities, which replace oxygen atoms, the non-magnetic BeO NTs transform into magnetic semiconductors, which acquire magnetization caused by spin splitting of (B,C,N) 2p states located in the forbidden gap of a BeO tube. The magnetic moments of the impurities vary from 0.65 to 1.60. On the contrary, when (B,C,N) dopants subs…
High pressure Raman experiments on Boron Nitride multi-walled nanotubes show that the intensity of the vibrational mode at ~ 1367 cm-1 vanishes at ~ 12 GPa and it does not recover under decompression. In comparison, the high pressure Raman experiments on hexagonal Boron Nitride show a clear signature of a phase transition from hexagonal to wurtzite at ~ 13 GPa which is reversible on decompression. These results are contrasted with the pressure behavior of carbon nanotubes and graphite.
We represent the results of quantum chemical calculations of boron nitride nanotubes intercalated by alkali and alkali-earth metall atoms and its ions. It was obtained that unpair spins were localized on seperated metal atoms. So we propose to construct the two-qubit cells on the basis of infilled boron nitride nanotubes for the quantum computer.
Effect of Tube Radius on the Adsorption of Chlorothalonil on Single-Walled Carbon and Boron Nitride Nanotube Surfaces: A Theoretical Study for Environmental Remediation
We show that the optical absorption spectra of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes are dominated by strongly bound excitons. Our first-principles calculations indicate that the binding energy for the first and dominant excitonic peak depends sensitively on the dimensionality of the system, varying from 0.7 eV in bulk hexagonal BN via 2.1 eV in the single sheet of BN to more than 3 eV in the hypothetical (2,2) tube. The strongly localized nature of this exciton dictates the fast convergence of its binding energy with increasing tube diameter towards the sheet value. The absolute position of the first …
The frictional properties of individual multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes (BN-NTs) synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and deposited on a silicon substrate are investigated using an atomic force microscope tip sliding along (longitudinal sliding) and across (transverse sliding) the tube's principal axis. Because of the tube transverse deformations during the tip sliding, a larger friction coefficient is found for the transverse sliding as compared to the longitudinal sliding. Here, we show that the friction anisotropy in BN-NTs, defined as the ratio between transverse and longitud…
We perform a theoretical investigation on the thermal conductivity of single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (SWBNT) using the kinetic theory. By fitting to the phonon spectrum of boron nitride sheet, we develop an efficient and stable Tersoff-derived interatomic potential which is suitable for the study of heat transport in sp2 structures. We work out the selection rules for the three-phonon process with the help of the helical quantum numbers $(κ, n)$ attributed to the symmetry group (line group) of the SWBNT. Our calculation shows that the thermal conductivity $κ_{\rm ph}$ diverges with leng…
Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are of intense scientific interests due to their unique physiochemical properties and prospective applications in various nanotechnologies. A critical problem hampering the application processing of BNNTs is the outer sidewall functionalization, which is primarily acquired to lead BNNTs dispersible in various solvents. Furthermore, the surface of BNNTs should be intelligently designed and precisely controlled to satisfy the specific demands of different applications. For these purposes, covalent and noncovalent approaches have been factually developed for openin…
First-principles calculations reveal that the adsorption of representative first-row atoms with different electronegativity, such as lithium (Li), carbon (C) and fluorine (F), on zigzag single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) exhibits surprising selectivity. The adsorption energy and adsorption site are dependent upon the chemical activity of adsorbate with respect to the B and N atoms in the host tube. In detail, the F atom prefers to be adsorbed on the top of the B atom, the C atom is energetically favorable to stay on the bridge site which is perpendicular to the tube-axis, and the Li…
An ab initio calculations have been carried out for examining the curvature effect of small diameter hexagonal boron nanotubes. The considered conformations of boron nanotubes are namely armchair (3,3), zigzag (5,0) and chiral (4,2), and consist of 12, 20, and 56 atoms, respectively. The strain energy is evaluated in order to examine the curvature effect. It is found that the strain energy of hexagonal BNT strongly depends upon the radius, whereas the strain energy of triangular BNTs depends on both radius and chirality.
There is a strong interest to attach nanoparticles non-covalently to one-dimensional systems like boron nitride nanotubes to form composites. The combination of those materials might be used for catalysis, in solar cells, or for water splitting. Additionally, the fundamental aspect of charge transfer between the components can be studied in such systems. We report on the synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites based on semiconductor nanoparticles attached directly and non-covalently to boron nitride nanotubes. Boron nitride nanotubes were simply integrated into the colloidal synthesis…
In order to shed light on the second harmonic generation (SHG) of new 2-D systems, first principles methods are used to calculate the second order susceptibility χ(2) for different types of layered alloys such as monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) alloys, TMD Haeckelite alloys, nanotubes of TMD alloys, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) systems which include BxNyCz alloys, BN and BNC2 nanotubes, BxNxCy Haeckelites and BN Schwarzites (porous BN). It is found that the tungsten based alloys possess higher χ(2) than Mo based at high photon energies, but at low energies, one type of Mo…
We present results for the optical absorption spectra of small-diameter single-wall carbon and boron nitride nanotubes obtained by {\it ab initio} calculations in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory. We compare the results with those obtained for the corresponding layered structures, i.e. the graphene and hexagonal BN sheets. In particular, we focus on the role of depolarization effects, anisotropies and interactions in the excited states. We show that already the random phase approximation reproduces well the main features of the spectra when crystal local field effects …
Multifunctional polymer composites with anisotropic properties are attracting interests as they fulfil the growing demand of multitasking materials. In this work, anisotropic polymer composites are fabricated by combining the layer-by-layer (LBL) filtration method with the alternative assembling of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and hexagonal boron nitride flakes (hBN) on natural rubber latex particles (NR). The layered composites exhibit anisotropic thermal and electrical conductivities, which are tailored through the layer formulations. The best composite consists of four layers of NR modified with…
In this paper we report a theoretical study of the effects of the presence of boron in growing carbon nanotubes. We employ a well established Tight Binding model to describe the interactions responsible for the energetics of these systems, combined with the Molecular Dynamics simulation technique and Structural Relaxation calculations. We find, in agreement with the previous theoretical/experimental work of Blase {\em et al.} [{\em Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 83}, 5078 (1999)], that boron favors (n,0) (zig-zag) tubular structures over (n,n) (arm-chair) ones by stabilizing the zig-zag edge. Furtherm…
Near-field spectroscopy has been extensively applied recently to analyze collective optical properties of materials at the nanoscale. However, vibrations of small molecules were only recognizable in close proximity to a metallic resonator. We show that encapsulation in boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) enhances the near-field vibrational spectra of C$_{60}$ fullerene, reaching a sensitivity limit of a few hundred molecules. Furthermore, products of chemical reactions inside the tubes can be identified, so long as their vibrational signatures lie in the polariton gap of the BNNT.
Despite recent successes in the synthesis of boron nanotubes (BNTs), the atomic arrangement of their walls has not yet been determined and many questions about their basic properties do remain. Here, we unveil the dynamical stability of BNTs by means of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. We find that free-standing, single-wall BNTs with diameters larger than 0.6 nm are thermally stable at the experimentally reported synthesis temperature of 870$^\circ$C and higher. The walls of thermally stable BNTs are found to have a variety of different mixed triangular-hexagonal morphologies.…
Exciton effects are studied in single-wall boron-nitride nanotubes. The Coulomb interaction dependence of the band gap, the optical gap, and the binding energy of excitons are discussed. The optical gap of the (5,0) nanotube is about 6eV at the onsite interaction U=2t with the hopping integral t=1.1eV. The binding energy of the exciton is 0.50eV for these parameters. This energy agrees well with that of other theoretical investigations. We find that the energy gap and the binding energy are almost independent of the geometries of nanotubes. This novel property is in contrast with that of the c…
Exciton effects are studied in single-wall boron-nitride (BN) nanotubes. Linear absorption spectra are calculated with changing the chiral index of the zigzag nanotubes. We consider the extended Hubbard model with atomic energies at the boron and nitrogen sites. Exciton effects are calculated using the configuration interaction technique. The Coulomb interaction dependence of the band gap, the lowest exciton energy, and the binding energy of the exciton are discussed. The optical gap of the (5,0) nanotube is about 6 eV at the onsite interaction U=2t with the hopping integral t=1.2 eV. The bind…
We investigate by means of DFT/GGA+U calculations the electronic and structural properties of magnetic nanotubes composed of an iron oxide monolayer and (n,0) Boron Nitride (BN) nanotubes, with n ranging from 6 up to 14. The formation energy per FeO molecule of FeO covered tubes is smaller than the formation energy of small FeO nanoparticles which suggest that the FeO molecules may cover the BN nanotubes rather than to aggregate to form the FeO bulk. We propose a continuous model for the FeO covered BN nanotubes formation energy which predicts that BN tubes with diameter of roughly 13 Åare the…
A gear effect is demonstrated at parallel and cross junctions between boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) via atomistic simulations. The atoms of neighboring BNNTs are meshed together at the junctions like gear teeth through long-range non-covalent interaction, which are shown to be able to transmit motion and power. The sliding motion of a BNNT can be spontaneously translated to rotating motion of an adjoining one or viceversa at a well-defined speed ratio. The transmittable motion and force strongly depend on the helical lattice structure of BNNTs represented by a chiral angle. The motion transm…
Experimental measurements have reported ultra-fast and radius-dependent water transport in carbon nanotubes which are absent in boron nitride nanotubes. Despite considerable effort, the origin of this contrasting (and fascinating) behaviour is not understood. Here, with the aid of machine learning-based molecular dynamics simulations that deliver first-principles accuracy, we investigate water transport in single-wall carbon and boron nitride nanotubes. Our simulations reveal a large, radius-dependent hydrodynamic slippage on both materials with water experiencing indeed a $\approx 5$ times lo…
We report all-electron, density-functional calculations with large Gaussian polarization basis set of the recently synthesized octahedral B24N24 cage that is perfectly round by symmetry, and boron-nitride (BN) clusters that its existence might suggest. We consider whether it is energetically possible that the two halves of this round cage could cap the BN nanotubes, modeled by B28N28 and B32N32. The energetics show that BN nanotubes with such round caps, are only slightly less favorable than the BN clusters containing six squares as the only defects in the otherwise perfect hexagonal lattice. …
By using the five Angstrom diameter pores of calcined zeolite as the template, we have fabricated boron doped carbon nanotube networks via the chemical vapor deposition method. Raman data indicate the network to comprise segments of interconnected carbon nano tubes. Transport measurements showed a superconducting transition initiating at 40K, with a sharp downturn around 20K to a low resistance state at 2K, accompanied by a low resistance plateau in the current voltage characteristic, fluctuating around zero resistance. Magnetic measurements exhibited the Meissner effect characteristic of thin…
Nanomaterials under extreme conditions can behave in a completely different manner. High-velocity impact, for example, can produce nanoribbons without any chemical approach via carbon or boron nitride nanotubes unzipping. Although hybrid nanostructures have been used to create stronger structures, few studies on these materials under extreme conditions have been employed. In this work, we study an experimentally synthesized hybrid doubled walled CBN nanotube (boron nitride and carbon nanotubes concentrically assembled) under high-velocity impact. Our results show that the combination of elasti…
Direct Realization of Near-Ideal Carbyne in Ultrathin Boron Nitride Nanotubes
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院）；Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin（柏林洪堡大学）；Center for the Science of Materials Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin（柏林材料科学中心）；Politecnico di Milano（米兰理工大学）；Huzhou Normal University（湖州师范学院）
We perform first-principles calculations to investigate the structural and electronic properties of metal-doped (10, 0) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a single hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) sheet in the presence of an external electric field. We consider K, Cl and Ni atoms as dopants to study the dependence of the electronic properties of the CNT on doping polarity and concentration. The electric field strength is varied from -0.2 V/Åto +0.2 V/Åto explore the effects of an external electric field on the electronic structures. Although the electronic energy bands of the hBN sheet are modified in ac…
A family of unusually stable boron cages was identified and examined using first-principles local density functional method. The structure of the fullerenes is similar to that of the B12 icosahedron and consists of six crossing double-rings. The energetically most stable fullerene is made up of 180 boron atoms. A connection between the fullerene family and its precursors, boron sheets, is made. We show that the most stable boron sheets are not necessarily precursors of very stable boron cages. Our finding is a step forward in the understanding of the structure of the recently produced boron na…
We investigate the adsorption of the nucleic acid bases, adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and uracil (U) on the outer wall of a high curvature semiconducting single-walled boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) by first principles density functional theory calculations. The calculated binding energy shows the order: G>A\approxC\approxT\approxU implying that the interaction strength of the (high-curvature) BNNT with the nucleobases, G being an exception, is nearly the same. A higher binding energy for the G-BNNT conjugate appears to result from a stronger hybridization of the molecula…
Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is unique among two-dimensional materials, with a large band gap (~6 eV) and high thermal conductivity (>400 W/m/K), second only to diamond among electrical insulators. Most electronic studies to date have relied on h-BN exfoliated from bulk crystals; however, for scalable applications the material must be synthesized by methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Here, we demonstrate single- and few-layer h-BN synthesized by CVD on single crystal platinum and on carbon nanotube (CNT) substrates, also comparing these films with h-BN deposited on the more com…
We performed ab initio calculation on the pristine and carbon-doped (5,5) and (9,0) BN nanotubes. It was found that Carbon substitution for either boron or nitrogen in BN nanotubes can induce spontaneous magnetization. Calculations based on density functional theory with the local-spin-density-approximation on the electronic band structure revealed a spin polarized, dispersionless band near the Fermi energy. The magnetization can be attributed to the carbon 2p electron. Compared to other theoretical models of light-element or metal-free magnetic materials, the Carbon-doped BN nanotubes are mor…
We combine ab initio, tight-binding methods and analytical theory to study piezoelectric effect of boron nitride nanotubes. We find that piezoelectricity of a heteropolar nanotube depends on its chirality and diameter and can be understood starting from the piezoelectric response of an isolated planar sheet, along with a structure specific mapping from the sheet onto the tube surface. We demonstrate that coupling between the uniaxial and shear deformation are only allowed in the nanotubes with lower chiral symmetry. Our study shows that piezoelectricity of nanotubes is fundamentally different …
The electronic and piezoelectric properties of the boron nitride (BN) nanotubes are investigated with the hybrid density functional (B3LYP) method. We first study bulk h-BN and BN sheet and find that the B3LYP band structure and energy gap are consistent with the GW results. The B3LYP band gap is larger than the LDA one by about 1.8 eV for both zigzag and armchair nanotubes with various radius. We give an alternative interpretation that the optical absorption lines at 4.45 eV might be due to the electron transition in small zigzag BN nanotubes. The piezoelectric constant from the B3LYP method …
At dry and clean material junctions of rigid materials the corrugation of the sliding energy landscape is dominated by variations of Pauli repulsions. These occur when electron clouds centered around atoms in adjacent layers overlap as they slide across each other. In such cases there exists a direct relation between interfacial surface (in)commensurability and superlubricity, a frictionless and wearless tribological state. The Registry Index is a purely geometrical parameter that quantifies the degree of interlayer commensurability, thus providing a simple and intuitive method for the predict…
