Kang Shin-Hyun, Jeon Sang-Woo, Moon Se Youn, Yoon Young-Jin, Kim Tae-Hwan
Department of Quantum System Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea.
Department of Applied Plasma & Quantum Beam Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2020 Jun 4;11(11):4511-4516. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01177. Epub 2020 May 27.
Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have attracted significant interest because of the remarkable difference in their physical properties compared with carbon nanotubes and their far-reaching potential applications, including electrical insulators; thermally conducting, catalytic, and piezoelectric materials; and neutron absorbers. Despite their unique physical properties, the bundling and insolubility of BNNTs in water because of its substantial van der Waals attraction and hydrophobicity, respectively, give rise to many limitations in practical applications. Here, we present a new way to produce a highly stable BNNT dispersion by the noncovalent functionalization of the BNNT surface in water. The noncovalently functionalized BNNTs (p-BNNTs) have been found to be highly stable in water for a long time (>1 year) and easily water-redispersible by mild vortex mixing for a few minutes even after freeze-drying at -45 °C. The p-BNNTs were cylindrically encapsulated with polymerizable surfactants (BNNT diameter = ca. 3 nm and surfactant thickness = 0.8 nm).
氮化硼纳米管（BNNTs）因其与碳纳米管相比具有显著不同的物理性质以及具有广泛的潜在应用而引起了人们的极大兴趣，这些应用包括电绝缘体、导热材料、催化材料和压电材料以及中子吸收剂。尽管BNNTs具有独特的物理性质，但由于其分别具有较强的范德华引力和疏水性，导致BNNTs在水中会发生聚集且不溶解，这在实际应用中带来了许多限制。在此，我们提出了一种通过在水中对BNNT表面进行非共价功能化来制备高度稳定的BNNT分散体的新方法。已发现非共价功能化的BNNTs（p-BNNTs）在水中长时间（>1年）高度稳定，并且即使在-45°C冷冻干燥后，通过温和涡旋混合几分钟也能很容易地重新分散于水中。p-BNNTs被可聚合表面活性剂圆柱形包裹（BNNT直径约为3 nm，表面活性剂厚度为0.8 nm）。
