Post-synthesis carbon doping of individual multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes via electron-beam irradiation.
We report on post-synthesis carbon doping of individual boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) via in situ electron-beam irradiation inside an energy-filtering 300 keV high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The substitution of C for B and N atoms in the honeycomb lattice was demonstrated through electron energy loss spectroscopy, spatially resolved energy-filtered elemental mapping, and in situ electrical measurements. Substitutional C doping transformed BNNTs from electrical insulators to conductors. In comparison with the existing post-synthesis doping methods for nanoscale materials (e.g., ion implantation and diffusion), the discovered electron-beam-induced doping is a well-controlled, little-damaging, room-temperature, and simple strategy that is expected to demonstrate great promise for post-synthesis doping of diverse nanomaterials in the future.
Wei
Xianlong
X
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science, Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan. weixl@pku.edu.cn
Wang
Ming-Sheng
MS
Bando
Yoshio
Y
Golberg
Dmitri
D
D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D004583:Electrons; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
D001896:Boron Compounds; C017282:boron nitride; D002244:Carbon