Today, we will look at whether boron is the new carbon.
Hexagonal boron nitride, a single substance material called white graphene, is highly versatile. It has similar properties to carbon-based graphite in terms of molecular weight and strength and has a transparent appearance.
It's used in multiple applications, ranging from electrical insulation to cosmetics. Researchers are now saying that given its properties and versatility, the compound is a potential successor to carbon in nanotube science.
Transcripts
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today, we're going to look at whether boron is the new carbon.
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Hexagonal boron nitride, a single substance material called white
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graphene, is highly versatile.
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It has similar properties to carbon-based graphite in terms of molecular weight and
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strength and has a transparent appearance.
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It's used in multiple applications, ranging from electrical
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insulation to cosmetics.
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Researchers are now saying that given its properties and versatility, the
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compound is a potential successor to carbon in nanotube science.
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As researchers investigate the potential of two-dimensional
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materials, hexagonal boron nitride has emerged as a significant player.
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hBN, like graphene, is made up of a regular pattern of hexagons.
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But these hexagons are made up of alternating, boron and nitrogen atoms.
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Researchers discovered that HBN sheets have exceptional power, stiffness and
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resilience at extreme temperatures.
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When these sheets are rolled into nanotubes, their properties are
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enhanced even further, especially when the nanotubes are closely aligned.
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These structures are visible to the naked eye, and stuffed with tens of trillions
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of hollow aligned fibers or nanotubes.
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Long thin carbon nanotubes were actually first discovered in the early 1990s.
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Since then, scientists have been perfecting the process of creating
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these nanotubes in bulk quantities.
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However it has proven to be a difficult task.
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In a study in 2020, at the university of Tokyo, engineers created tiny structures
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from hexagonal boron nitride as part of a project, looking to incorporate nanofibers
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into membranes for water filtration and blue energy a renewable energy principle
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in which electricity is generated by ionic filtration of seawater into clean water.
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Their findings, published in the journal AFCs nano, may well pave the
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way for the mass production of aligned boron nitride nanotubes or A-BNNT's.
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Wrong Xiang and colleagues discovered the ability to create high quality boron
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nitride nanotubes by developing a forest of a few micrometre-long carbon nanotubes.
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They used the conventional chemical vapor de-position method and layered it with
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boron and gaseous nitrogen precursors.
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These were then solidified onto the carbon nanotubes at high temperatures to produce
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high quality, hexagonal boron nanotubes.
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MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Brian Wartell, who is
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taking the research further, says, this is all part of a decade long
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search for producing carbon nanotubes.
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Wardle says that aligning the nanotubes makes it easier to utilize
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boron, nitride nanotube properties in bulk quantities to create physical
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composites, devices and membranes.
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Wardle and Acuan's study broadens and scales Xiang's approach,
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expelling the underpinning carbon nanotubes and leaving the long boron
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nitride nanotubes alone in place.
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The researchers were investigating ways to tweak the pressures and
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temperatures of the chemical vapor deposition method to eliminate the
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carbon nanotubes while keeping the boron nitride nanotubes unchanged.
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The team eventually discovered a combination of pressures,
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temperatures and precursor chemicals.
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They initially replicated the measures, taken by Xiang to generate
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the boron nitride coated nanotubes.
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They also discovered clear crystallites in the microscopic examination
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indicating the high quality of the boron nitride nanotubes.
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To prove the versatility of their, methodology, the researchers developed
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bigger carbon based structures such as a carbon fiber weave, a mat of
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fuzzy carbon nanotubes and sheets of randomly distributed carbon nanotubes.
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Before burning the underpinning carbon, the team layered
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carbon-based specimens with boron and nitrogen precursor chemicals.
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In every demonstration, they were given a boron nitride scale model
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of the actual black carbon scaffold.
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They also demolished BNNT forests, resulting in horizontally aligned
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fiber films, a favored configuration for integrating into composites.
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Wardle and his further worked on bulk scale clusters and fibers to
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strengthen composite materials for space and hypersonic applications,
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being heat-resistant and more powerful, and for use in window panes
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and optically transparent devices.
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A measure of the interest that these studies have gained is shown by the list
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of industry partners who have contributed to the research with funding and or
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partner research resources through MITI's NECST (or nano engineered composite
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aerospace structures) Consortium.
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These partners include ANSYS Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Embraer,
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Saab AB, and Teijin Carbon America.
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And that's all from Borates Today.
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For more information on applications and benefits related to boron and borates,
