Synthesis of boron carbide nanoflakes via a bamboo-based carbon thermal reduction method

Abstract

Boron carbide nanoflakes have been successfully synthesized by a facile and cost-effective bamboo-based carbon thermal reduction method. The majority of the boron carbide products exhibited a flake-like morphology with lateral dimensions of 0.5–50μm in width and more than 50μm in length, while the thickness was less than 150nm. The structural, morphological, and elemental analyses demonstrated that these nanoflakes grew via the fluoride-assisted vapor–liquid–solid combined with vapor–solid growth mechanism. The corresponding growth model was proposed. In addition, the electrical property of individual boron carbide nanoflake was investigated by an in situ two point method inside a transmission electron microscope. The resistivity of boron carbide nanoflakes was measured to be 0.14MΩcm.