Formation and atomic structures of BnNn (n=24–60) clusters studied by mass spectrometry, high-resolution electron microscopy and molecular orbital calculations

Photoabsorption spectra of boron nitride fullerenelike structures

“…The "magic" octahedronlike structures of B 12 N 12 , B 16 N 16 , B 28 N 28 , and B 36 N 36 are found to be especially stable. [10][11][12][13] They consist purely of four-and sixmembered rings. In contrast, for B 24 N 24 , the isomers with the lower S 8 and S 4 symmetries are computationally found more stable than the most symmetric isomer with the O symmetry.…”

“…On the experimental side the most exhaustive work has been carried out by Oku et al [11][12][13]19 They have synthesized B n N n cages of sizes n = 12-60 by the arc-melting method and detected them by laser-desorption time-of-flight mass spectroscopy and high-resolution electron microscopy. The profusion of B 24 N 24 was remarkable, and also other theoretically stable predicted species were detected abundantly.…”

Growth of Boron Nitride Nanohorn Structures

“…2,3) Boron nitride (BN) nanostructured materials with a bandgap energy of $6 eV and non-magnetism are also expected to show various electronic, optical and magnetic properties such as Coulomb blockade, photoluminescence, and supermagnetism. 4,5) Recently, several studies have been reported on BN nanomaterials such as BN nanotubes, [6][7][8] BN clusters, 9,10) BN nanocapsules 4,5,11) and BN nanoparticles, 12,13) which are expected to be useful as electronic devices, high heatresistance semiconductors and insulator lubricants. In addition, some BN nanohorns as a novel type of BN nanotubes were also reported by HREM images.…”

Reactivity Indexes and Structure of Fullerenes

“…These types of fullerenes have proved to be extremely interesting, both for medical applications and for their possible applications in material sciences [4][5][6][7][8]. With respect to heterofullerenes, the substitution of carbon atoms by boron, nitrogen and silicon has been proposed; in the case of the first two, these have regularly been as -BN-pairs, thus ensuring that isoelectronic species are obtained, although this has not necessarily been the only purpose; in the case of silicon, the main motive has been to search for useful applications in electronics [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Last but not least, endohedral fullerenes exist because of the fact that they are hollow; so they have the potential application of confining or protecting molecules, thus acting as carriers or stabilizers.…”