To form liquid crystals, the researchers needed to be sure their nanotubes were free of contaminants. The heat-tolerant fibers developed at Rice University could be useful for aerospace and electronics applications and as energy-efficient materials. A robust fiber of boron nitride nanotubes as seen under a scanning electron microscope.
Both types of nanotubes are strong, but unlike electrically conductive carbon nanotubes, BNNTs are good electrical insulators and are thermally and chemically stable in air up to 900 degrees Celsius (1,652 degrees Fahrenheit). “BNNT fibers are attractive for the manufacture of a variety of products, with applications that range from wearables to aerospace vehicles,” said Martí, whose lab designed solutions and helped characterize the fibers produced in Pasquali’s lab.īoron nitride nanotubes are like carbon nanotubes, but with alternating boron and nitrogen atoms instead of carbon in their hexagonal lattices. The lab proceeded to form fibers and films from the liquid crystalline solutions. These liquid crystals consist of aligned BNNTs that are far easier to process than the tangled nanotubes that usually form in solution. The researchers reported in Nature Communications that boron nitride nanotubes, aka BNNTs, assemble themselves into liquid crystals under the right conditions, primarily concentrations above 170 parts per million by weight in chlorosulfonic acid. Courtesy of the Pasquali Research GroupĪ Rice team led by professors Matteo Pasquali and Angel Martí has simplified handling of the highly valuable nanotubes to make them more suitable for large-scale applications, including aerospace, electronics and energy-efficient materials. Rice University scientists introduced a method to combine them into fibers using the custom wet-spinning process they developed to make carbon nanotube fibers. A tangle of unprocessed boron nitride nanotubes seen through a scanning electron microscope. Boron nitride nanotubes used to be hard to process, according to Rice University researchers.
0 kommentar(er)
