Fabrication and Growth Mechanism of Bamboo-structured Boron Nitride Nanotubes with Thorn-Like Morphology

Bamboo-structured boron nitride (BN) nanotubes with thorn-like morphology were synthe-sized by thermal chemical reaction using amorphous boron powders and NiO nanoparticles as precursors under the flow of NH₃ at 1100 oC. The structural and morphological charac-teristics of BN nanotubes were investigated by X-ray diraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the thorn-like nanostructures attaching to the stems of bamboo-structured BN nanotubes were the hexagonal BN nano akes. Based on the diffu-sion of solid B and vapor B₂O₂, a possible growth mechanism of these novel thorn-like BN nanotubes was primarily proposed.