Friction at the nanoscale has revealed a wealth of behaviours that depart strongly from the long-standing macroscopic laws of Amontons-Coulomb. Here, by using a 'Christmas cracker'-type of system in which a multiwalled nanotube is torn apart between a quartz-tuning-fork-based atomic force microscope (TF-AFM) and a nanomanipulator, we compare the mechanical response of multiwalled carbon nanotub...

High electron mobility of graphene has enabled their application in high-frequency analogue devices but their gapless nature has hindered their use in digital switches. In contrast, the structural analogous, h-BN sheets and BN nanotubes (BNNTs) are wide band gap insulators. Here we show that the growth of electrically insulating BNNTs on graphene can enable the use of graphene as effective digi...

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have many fascinating properties and a wide range of applications. An improved ball milling method has been developed for high-yield BNNT synthesis, in which metal nitrate, such as Fe(NO3)3, and amorphous boron powder are milled together to prepare a more effective precursor. The heating of the precursor in nitrogen-containing gas produces a high density of BNNTs...

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...

Lithium storage and capture are of particular importance for the development new technology in electric vehicles portable electronics. Nanotubes (NTs) among many porous nanomaterials offered as potential candidates lithium storage. In this paper, we adopt a continuum approach together with Lennard–Jones function to determine minimum interaction energies atoms boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) car...

Interactions of DNA oligomers with two categories of semiconducting nanostructureschalcogenide quantum dots (QDs) and boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)owing to their widespread presence in bioinspired processes are investigated using the first-principles density functional theory and continuum solvent model. The chalcogenide QDs interact strongly at their metal centers featuring electrostatic i...

In this study interaction of phenothiazine sulfur dye with (5, 5) armchair open-end boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) in interaction (with a length of 7 Å) was investigated. The impacts of the estereoelectronic effect associated with donor-acceptor electron delocalizations, dipole-dipole interactions and total steric exchange energies on the structural and electronic properties and reactivity of ...

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), the structural analogues to carbon (CNTs), attracted considerable attention due their excellent properties. However, synthesis of BNNTs suffers from high-temperature requirement, which increases cost and adds complexity instruments (arc-discharge, plasma-assisted CVD, etc.), preventing further exploration use harmful chemicals (catalytic chemical vapor depositio...

Abstract Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are emerging nanomaterials with analogous structures and similarly impressive mechanical properties to carbon (CNTs), but unique chemistry complimentary multifunctional properties, including higher thermal stability, electrical insulation, optical transparency, neutron absorption capability, piezoelectricity. Over the past decade, advances in synthesis h...