Longitudinal splitting of boron nitride nanotubes for the facile synthesis of high quality boron nitride nanoribbons

Nano Lett. 2011 Aug 10;11(8):3221-6. doi: 10.1021/nl2014857. Epub 2011 May 24.

Abstract

Boron nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs), the boron nitride structural equivalent of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), are predicted to possess unique electronic and magnetic properties. We report the synthesis of BNNRs through the potassium-intercalation-induced longitudinal splitting of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). This facile, scalable synthesis results in narrow (down to 20 nm), few sheet (typically 2-10), high crystallinity BNNRs with very uniform widths. The BNNRs are at least 1 μm in length with minimal defects within the ribbon plane and along the ribbon edges.