Abstract
The boron nitride (BN) nanotube (NT) [1] is a structural analog of carbon (C) NT [2], in which alternating B and N atoms substitute for C atoms in a graphitic sheet. They were first predicted to exist theoretically [3, 4] and were subsequently synthesized in 1995 [1]. The growing interest to the BN NT is primarily governed by the fact that in contrast to the metallic or semiconducting C NT [5], the BN NT was predicted to be insulating with a -5.5 eV band-gap independent of its chirality and morphology [4]. In addition, layered BN is known to be more thermally and chemically stable than graphite [6]; therefore, there have been intuitive expectations that the BN NTs may inherit these advantageous technological properties. Surprisingly, the amount of successful research work performed to date on BN NTs has been negligibly low compared to that on C NTs.
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