Growth of boron nitride nanotubes from magnesium diboride catalysts

• Published in: Nanoscale Vol. 10; no. 29; pp. 13895 - 13901
• Main Authors: E, Songfeng, Wu, Liling, Li, Chaowei, Zhu, Zezhou, Long, Xiaoyang, Geng, Renjie, Zhang, Jun, Li, Zhenyu, Lu, Weibang, Yao, Yagang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 07.08.2018
• Subjects: Borides; Boron; Boron nitride; Boron oxides; Calcium oxide; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Chemical vapor deposition; First principles; Lime; Magnesium compounds; Magnesium oxide; Nanomaterials; Nanotubes; Nucleation; Organic chemistry; Superconductors (materials); Tube furnaces
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c8nr03167c

The difficulty in synthesizing boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) in a conventional horizontal tube furnace by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) may be ascribed to the failure to identify suitable catalysts and nucleation particles. This report demonstrates that magnesium diboride (MgB ) can effectively catalyze the growth of BNNTs in such a tube furnace from various boron sources, including boron oxide (B O ), boric acid (H BO ), and a mixture of boron (B) and calcium oxide (CaO). This catalyst is more efficient than the possible magnesium oxide (MgO) or magnesium nitride (Mg N ) catalysts. MgB efficiently catalyzes the formation of BNNTs by maintaining a liquid state and showing a dissolving capacity for B O at the growth temperature, thus satisfying the criteria for the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanisms of one-dimensional nanomaterials. First-principles simulations demonstrate that B O can be dissolved into the MgB nanoparticle. We believe that the strong catalytic behavior of MgB can be attributed to its robust nucleation for BNNTs and dissolubility for B O .