This article provides a concise review of the recent research advancements in boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with a comprehensive list of references. As the motivation of the field, we first summarize some of the attractive properties and potential applications of BNNTs. Then, latest discoveries on the properties, applications, and synthesis of BNNTs are discussed. In particular, we focus on l...

Submitted for the MAR08 Meeting of The American Physical Society Low temperature growth of boron nitride nanotubes1 CHEE HUEI LEE, MING XIE, JIESHENG WANG, YOKE KHIN YAP — Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are promising nanostuctures that will complement the applications of carbon nanotubes in various emerging areas. However, the synthesis of BNNTs is still challenging and required high growth te...

A comprehensive overview of current research progress on boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) is presented in this article. Particularly, recent advancements in controlled synthesis and large-scale production of BNNTs will first be summarized. While recent success in mass production of BNNTs has opened up new opportunities to implement the appealing properties in various applications, concerns about...

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are functionalized and solubilized in organic solvents such as chloroform, methylene chloride, and tetrahydrofuran by using conjugated poly(p-phenylene ethynylene)s (PPEs) (polymers A and B) and polythiophene (polymer C) via a noncovalent functionalization approach through strong π-π stacking interactions between the conjugated polymers and BNNTs. The functionali...

Cylinder- and bamboo-shaped boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been synthesized in large scale via a facile chemical vapor reaction route using ammonia borane as a precursor. The structure and chemical composition of the as-synthesized BNNTs are extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected-area ele...

Multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) were compressed at room temperature in diamond anvil cells up to 35 GPa, followed by decompression. For the first time, in situ infrared absorption spectroscopy was used to monitor BNNT structural transformations. These BNNTs were found to undergo pressure-induced transformations from a hexagonal to a more closely packed wurtzite structure at 11 GPa, ...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising as the drug carriers to cells for various biomedical applications including cancer therapy. Toxicity of CNTs was a debatable issue as previous studies were performed using long and unfunctionalized CNTs, which tend to entangle in the biological systems and lead to various lung lesions and blocking of the airways. More recent in vitro and in vivo studies ind...

We report the discovery that boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), isosteres of CNTs with unique physical properties, are inherently noncytotoxic. Furthermore, we developed a biomemetic coating strategy to interface BNNTs with proteins and cells. Finally, we showed that BNNTs can deliver DNA oligomers to the interior of cells with no apparent toxicity. This work suggests that BNNTs may be superior t...

We have studied non-covalent functionalization of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with benzene molecule and with seven other different heterocyclic aromatic rings (furan, thiophene, pyrrole, pyridine, pyrazine, pyrimidine, and pyridazine, respectively). A hybrid density functional theory (DFT) method with the inclusion of dispersion correction is employed. The structural and electronic properti...

Partially vertical aligned boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) on Si substrates are found to be superhydrophobic in contrast to boron nitride (BN) thin films. While the hexagonal-phase BN films are partially wetted by water with advancing contact angle of about 50 degrees , partially vertically aligned BNNTs can achieve superhydrophobic state with advancing water contact angle exceeding 150 degrees...