Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers have recently used a surfactant to spread insulating boron nitride nanotubes and coat them into surfaces minus bundling.

The team, as specified in a EurekAlert! report,  demonstrated that heat treatment could eliminate the surfactant to show clean nanoscale templates. 

 

Chemical vapor deposits could form coaxial nanotubes on the template through various materials. 

Such an ability to coat nanotubes onto "inert" insulating structures offers scientists unprecedented access to the properties of new nanotube materials.

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Carbon Nanotubes

Essentially, breakthroughs in nanotechnology may have made nanoscales and nanotubes easier to come by for materials scientists.

However, studying them in isolation is far from easy. Since they frequently come aggregated or bundled, it's tricky to target their decreased dimensionality's exotic optical and electronic properties.

A recent study published in ACS Nano revealed that nanotube materials could be grown on the surface of a carbon nanotube, offering well-separated structures that could be characterized.

Nonetheless, carbon nanotubes have conduct properties and strongly absorb light, making it difficult to separate the electrical and optical properties of the coated material from those of the original nanotube.

Surfactant

The team, led by Assistant Professor Yusuke Nakanishi, Associate Professor Yasimitsu Miyata, and Assistant Professor Yohei Yomogita, all from Tokyo Metropolitan University, has utilized insulating boron nitride or BN nanotubes instead of templates for growing nanotubes.

As indicated in a similar Bioengineer.org report, this is no mean task. Boron nitride nanotubes are "notoriously sticky," the researchers reported.

Although they can be spread with a surfactant that helps keep the tubes apart, it was unclear if the surfactant could be taken out to reveal a clean template.

The research team has discovered a surfactant that does not stick to the tubes. They honed a heat treatment as well, under vacuum, leaving a clean, well-isolated insulating nanotube template, as well.


Appearing Like 'Nanoscale Coaxial Cable'

Employing chemical vapor deposition, various materials could be coated onto the templates. The new tube is wrapping around the original BN tubes, forming something that appears like a "nanoscale coaxial cable," the report specified.

Essentially, since BN is an insulating material, the electrical properties of any coated materials can be examined in unprecedented depth.

This includes a property known as "chirality," the handedness in the atoms' structure in the nanotubes, which gives rise to an entire range of exotic electronic properties.

In principle, the team believes that their "nano-test-tubes" can be employed to template the range of different materials' growth.

Moreover, they have already succeeded with molybdenum disulfide and carbon, with scope for many more. Add to this the electrical and optical inertness of their BN template, and their new platform is promising not just material finding but unfettered access to their exotic physicochemical properties.

Related information about Baron Nitride Nanotubes is shown on Rice University's YouTube video below:

 

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