Simple, Economical, Scalable and Sustainable Route for Functionalization BNNTS

Abstract

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) were synthesized at 1150 °C under atmosphere of NH3/N2 gas by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. A simple mechanical method (ball milling in the presence of urea) is proposed for functionalization of BNNTs. FTIR results indicate that amine functional groups (N-H and -NH2) were introduced on the nanotubes and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the obtained values for the B:N rates are slight different which may be an indication of the functionalization occurrence. TEM and MEV images after ball milling showed an evidence of small fragments of tubular particles by the parallel fringes corresponding to multiple stacked layers of h-BN sheets. Successful of functionalization of the BNNTs structure was evidenced by stability of the dispersions in water, DMF and acetone. Additionally, the result suggests that the amino termination of the functionalized BNNTs makes it possible to covalently bond to polymers for manufacturing nanocomposites.