Efficient Gate-tunable light-emitting device made of defective boron nitride nanotubes: from ultraviolet to the visible

Abstract

Boron nitride is a promising material for nanotechnology applications due to its two-dimensional graphene-like, insulating, and highly-resistant structure. Recently it has received a lot of attention as a substrate to grow and isolate graphene as well as for its intrinsic UV lasing response. Similar to carbon, one-dimensional boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been theoretically predicted and later synthesised. Here we use first principles simulations to unambiguously demonstrate that i) BN nanotubes inherit the highly efficient UV luminescence of hexagonal BN; ii) the application of an external perpendicular field closes the electronic gap keeping the UV lasing with lower yield; iii) defects in BNNTS are responsible for tunable light emission from the UV to the visible controlled by a transverse electric field (TEF). Our present findings pave the road towards optoelectronic applications of BN-nanotube-based devices that are simple to implement because they do not require any special doping or complex growth.

The Size Effect in Mechanics Properties of Boron Nitride Nanotube Under Tension

“…They possess distinguishable chemical and thermal stability with high oxidation resistance up to 900 0 C in air [22], wide band-gaps independent of tube structures [23,24], excellent thermal conductivity [25]. Potential applications of BN-NTs include nanofillers in polymeric [26] and metallic [27] composites, optoelectronic fields [28], radiation shielding in space vehicles [29], etc. Thus, the understanding of mechanical properties of BN-NTs is required to make be successfully employed them in the aforementioned applications.…”

Photoluminescent properties of the carbon-dimer defect in hexagonal boron-nitride: a many-body finite-size cluster approach

“…There is by now a large experimental [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and theoretical [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] literature focusing on better understanding point defects in hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN), following similar studies on h-BN nanotubes [34]. The very large band gap of the h-BN host ( 6.1 eV experimental value for the bulk system [35]) allows in particular the presence of very deep defect-induced occupied and unoccupied energy levels, yielding optical transitions between defect levels with an energy that can span over the visible and UV domains.…”

The Buckling Behavior of Boron Nitride Nanotubes under Bending: An Atomistic Study

“…BN-NTs possess distinguishable chemical and thermal stability with high oxidation resistance up to 900 ºC in air [4], wide band-gaps independent of tube structures [5,6] and excellent thermal conductivity [7]. BN-NTs are also an effective violet and ultra-violet light emission material [8,9]. Potential applications of BN-NTs include nanofillers in polymeric [10] and metallic [11] composites, optoelectronic fields [8], radiation shielding in space vehicles [12].…”

“…BN-NTs are also an effective violet and ultra-violet light emission material [8,9]. Potential applications of BN-NTs include nanofillers in polymeric [10] and metallic [11] composites, optoelectronic fields [8], radiation shielding in space vehicles [12]. Potential applications of BN-NTs need a comprehension of the mechanical properties and performance of BN-NTs under various loading conditions.…”