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DNA‐Mediated Assembly of Boron Nitride Nanotubes
Author(s) -
Zhi Chunyi,
Bando Yoshio,
Wang Wenlong,
Tang Chengchun,
Kuwahara H.,
Golberg Dmitri
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
chemistry – an asian journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.18
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1861-471X
pISSN - 1861-4728
DOI - 10.1002/asia.200700246
Subject(s) - boron nitride , nanomaterials , materials science , liquid crystal , carbon nanotube , aqueous solution , nanotechnology , phase (matter) , dispersion (optics) , filtration (mathematics) , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , statistics , optoelectronics , mathematics , engineering , optics
The dispersion of nanomaterials in solutions is of primary importance for the improvement of their processability, but it also provides a way to investigate phase behavior and to assemble nanostructures in solvents. Several methods based on different interactions have been developed to disperse carbon nanotubes, whereas little development has been made for their boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) counterparts. A direct way to obtain long‐range ordering may be through spontaneous nematic ordering in solutions at sufficiently high concentrations of the nanomaterial fraction. Lyotropic nematics have been observed in various organic and inorganic systems. In this work, the strong interactions between DNA and BNNTs were exploited to fabricate high‐concentration BNNTs aqueous solutions by a simple method, and then, for the first time, nematic ordered ensembles of BNNTs were obtained by filtration. It is proposed that a localized liquid‐crystal phase appears during filtration, as the ordering trend for the BNNTs was found to depend on the concentration of the aqueous solutions of the BNNTs. Moreover, BNNTs were successfully localized on a predefined area by using a thiol‐modified DNA–BNNT hybrid.