Ceramics have superior hardness, strength and corrosion resistance, but are also associated with poor toughness. Here, we propose the boron nitride nanoplatelet (BNNP) as a novel toughening reinforcement component to ceramics with outstanding mechanical properties and high-temperature stability. We used a planetary ball-milling process to exfoliate BNNPs in a scalable manner and functionalizes ...

The first molecular dynamics (MD) study was conducted to explore mechanical-failure response of ultrafine grained single-layer boron-nitride films. We used MD simulations to construct relatively large molecular models of polycrystalline structures with random grain configurations. By applying uniaxial tensile loading, we then studied the grain size effect on the mechanical response of polycryst...

The demand for compact ultraviolet laser devices is increasing, as they are essential in applications such as optical storage, photocatalysis, sterilization, ophthalmic surgery and nanosurgery. Many researchers are devoting considerable effort to finding materials with larger bandgaps than that of GaN. Here we show that hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a promising material for such laser device...

The purpose of this study was to estimate the financial costs to start BNCT as a clinical treatment in a hospital. To evaluate more accurate data on the precise costs of BNCT, we analyzed the costs of conventional radiotherapy, carbon ion and proton therapy and compare them to BNCT. An aggregate cost calculation of accelerator, buildings, equipments and staff requirements was performed.

The Pechmann reaction of substituted phenols 1a-e with methyl acetoacetate (2) can be activated by boron trifluoride dihydrate (3) to give the corresponding 4-methyl- coumarin derivatives 4a-e in excellent yield (98-99 %).

Billets of hexagonal boron nitride powders (h-BN) were hot-pressed, varying the alignment of the platelike particles and the amount of oxide additives. Increasing either alignment of individual grains or the amount of additives was shown to increase flexural strength, to approximately 120 MPa at ambient temperatures. h-BN was shown to deflect cracks initially propagating normal to its basal pla...

A boron carbide coating was applied to diamond particles by heating the particles in a powder mixture consisting of H3BO3, B and Mg. The composition, bond state and coverage fraction of the boron carbide coating on the diamond particles were investigated. The boron carbide coating prefers to grow on the diamond (100) surface than on the diamond (111) surface. A stoichiometric B4C coating comple...

One-dimensional (1D) boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) and 2D hexagonal BN (h-BN) are attractive for demonstrating fundamental physics and promising applications in nano-/microscale devices. However, there is a high anisotropy associated with these BN allotropes as their excellent properties are either along the tube axis or in-plane directions, posing an obstacle in their widespread use in technol...

Gadolinium (Gd) neutron capture plays an important role in both Gd neutron capture therapy and neutron detection. Detailed information about the lowenergy electron spectrum emitted after Gd neutron capture is essential for accurately determining the dose delivery to the target and healthy tissues, as well as the effectiveness of Gd against other neutron convertors such as boron (B) and lithium ...

We report studies of the surface fringe structures and tunable bandgap width of atomic-thin boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs). BNNSs are synthesized by using digitally controlled pulse deposition techniques. The nanoscale morphologies of BNNSs are characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In general, the BNNSs appear microscopically fl...