Longitudinal Splitting of Boron Nitride Nanotubes for the Facile Synthesis of High Quality Boron Nitride Nanoribbons

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 11; no. 8; pp. 3221 - 3226
• Main Authors: Erickson, Kris J, Gibb, Ashley L, Sinitskii, Alexander, Rousseas, Michael, Alem, Nasim, Tour, James M, Zettl, Alex K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 10.08.2011
• Subjects: Boron nitride; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystal defects; Crystallinity; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Graphene; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetic properties of nanostructures; Materials science; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructure; Nanotubes; Physics; Ribbons; Specific materials; Splitting; Synthesis; nanoribbons; splitting; Boron nitride; nanotubes; nanomaterials; Electronic properties; Graphene; Nanotubes; Nanotape; Crystallinity; Potassium; Magnetic properties
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl2014857

Boron nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs), the boron nitride structural equivalent of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), are predicted to possess unique electronic and magnetic properties. We report the synthesis of BNNRs through the potassium-intercalation-induced longitudinal splitting of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). This facile, scalable synthesis results in narrow (down to 20 nm), few sheet (typically 2–10), high crystallinity BNNRs with very uniform widths. The BNNRs are at least 1 μm in length with minimal defects within the ribbon plane and along the ribbon edges.