Growing Carbon Nanotubes within Boron Nitride Nanotubes

The controlled synthesis and growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been a long standing challenge in the fabrication of carbon based materials for electronic applications. Due to the sensitivity to small changes in their structure, the successful integration of CNTs on electronic devices is conditioned to the preservation of the graphitic network of single and multiwalled nanotubes from external perturbations [1]. It is therefore necessary to develop experimental strategies for CNT synthesis that guarantee the formation of crystalline structures of carbon materials while ensuring a protection from the environment without affecting its electronic properties. Under this context boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), due to their uniform electronic properties and their chemical inertness characteristics, is one of the most appropriated nanomaterials for achieving these goals. In fact BNNTs are large band gap insulators exhibiting a resistivity to oxidation up to 900 °C [2]. In the last 15 years several electron-irradiation studies have demonstrated the capability and interest of such kind of treatments for modifying and understanding the behavior of carbon-based and related nanomaterials under extreme conditions and radiation [3]. Here we report the synthesis and growth of crystalline carbon nanotubes inside a larger diameter BNNT via in-situ electron irradiation in a TEM [4].