Single-crystal Al(18)B(4)O(33) microtubes.
Aluminum borate microtubes were prepared in excellent yield by annealing the Al(2)O(3)-NaBH(4)-NiCl(2) starting materials at 1050 degrees C under N(2)(H(2)) atmosphere. The tubes are usually open at each end with the outer diameters narrowly distributed at ca. 1 microm. XRD results and TEM analysis identified the composition of these tubes as single-crystal orthorhombic Al(18)B(4)O(33). These newly discovered ceramic microtubes with open ends have a variety of promising applications such as being filled with other materials for protection or for the fabrication of novel composites or filtering media.
Advanced Materials Laboratory, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan. MA.Renzhi@nims.go.jp
Renzhi
R
Ma
Yoshio
Y
Bando
Tadao
T
Sato
Chengchun
C
Tang
Fangfang
F
Xu