Raw BNNT Materials
BNNT Materials produces the world's highest quality BNNTs. Our boron nitride nanotubes are now available in multiple as-grown and refined form factors.
We are now providing our updated BNNT SP10 product. We find SP10 to be preferable to P1-Beta for most applications. BNNTs in SP10 are very similar compared to those in our previous P1-Beta product. However, SP10 has fewer h-BN nanosheets, but slightly more h-BN nanocages than P1-Beta. Elemental boron content of BNNT SP10 is typically 40-50 wt.%, which makes the material grey. The elemental boron in SP10 is easily removed, as in our refined product, SP10-R. SP10-R-P, a powdered form of SP10-R, is also available. Our BNNT materials are catalyst-free.
h-BN content | >99% (refined materials) |
Residual Impurities | Refined materials contain <1 wt.% elemental boron |
Tap Density | Low, ~0.25 mg/cm3 |
Defect density | Extremely low (BNNTs flex and recover when bent) |
Band gap | 5.7 eV (direct measurement by low energy EELS) |
Surface area | up to 400 m2/g (by multipoint BET) |
Network | many isolated tubes, bundles up to 5 tubes (by TEM) |
Number of walls | 1 to 5 walls are typical, 2 or 3 walls are most common (by TEM) |
BNNT length | up to 200 μm (by SEM), longer suspected |
Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) | Carbon nanotubes (CNT) | |
Electrical | Insulating (~5.7 eV wide-bandgap semiconductor) |
Metallic or semiconducting |
Optical | Strong UV absorbers and transparent in the visible; visible emitters | Ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared absorbers; semiconductors are near-infrared emitters |
Radio Frequency transparency | Yes (e.g. for 5G or radar) | No |
Thermal stability | Stable to at least 800°C in air | Up to 480°C |
Thermal neutron capture cross section | Boron isotope enrichment dependent (10B ~3825 barns vs. 11B ~0.0055 barns; N = 1.9 barns) | C = 0.0035 barn |
Bond polarity | Polar (B-N) | Nonpolar (C-C) |
Piezoelectric behavior | Yes (0.25 – 0.4 C/m2) | Yes |
Surface morphology | Corrugated | Smooth |
Color | White or translucent | Black |
Toxicity | Very low, possibly no cytotoxicity | Yes |
Theoretical thermal conductivity (vs. copper ~400 W/m∙K) |
~3,500 W/m∙K (axial) | |
Mechanical strength (Young's modulus) |
~1.2 TPa | |
Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) | -1 x 10-6 |