BCN nanotubes are tubular structures with a sub-micrometer diameter and a length much longer than diameter. They are composed of comparable amounts of boron,

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

atoms. First made in 1994, synthesis methods have included: arc-discharge, laser ablation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), template route, and pyrolysis techniques. Single-walled B–C–N nanotubes have been made with a hot-filament method.

Solvothermal synthesis

Vertically aligned arrays of ~BC₂N nanotubes can be produced by solvothermal synthesis in a stainless steel

autoclave An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizati ...

from a mixture of sodium azide (NaN₃), ammonium fluoroborate (NH₄BF₄) and methyl cyanide (CH₃CN). The mixture, together with the solvent and other additives is heated to 400 °C for ~14 h. The final composition was approx B₁₉C₅₅N₂₆.

Potential applications

The vertically-aligned BCN nanotubes (made as above) exhibit a high and stable specific capacitance (>500 F/g), which exceeds that of alternative carbon nanomaterials, and therefore have potential applications in supercapacitors.

Facile synthesis

Another method produced nanotubes of composition : B_45%,C_31%,N_24% The method was grow them on stainless steel by reacting boron, zinc oxide (ZnO), and ethanol in nitrogen and hydrogen at 1150 °C. The resulting nanotubes had an average diameter of about 90 nm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:BCN nanotubes Nanotubes by composition Boron compounds