title: Boron nanotubes.
abstract: A survey of novel classes of nanotubular materials based on boron is presented. Pure boron nanotubes are a consequence of a general Aufbau principle for boron clusters and solid boron phases, which postulates various novel boron materials besides the well-known bulk phases of boron based on boron icosahedra. Furthermore, several numerical studies suggest the existence of a large family of compound nanotubular materials derived from crystalline AlB2. We compare these novel boron-based nanotubular materials to standard nanotubular systems built from carbon, and point out a number of remarkable structural and electronic properties that make boron-based nanotubular materials an ideal component for composite nanodevices and extended nanotubular networks.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physik der Universität Greifswald, Domstrasse 10a, 17489 Greifswald, Germany. alexander.quandt@physik.uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.forename: Ihsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Boustani