Carbon and Boron Nitride Nanotubes: Structure, Property and Fabrication

Chang Liu1

Qichen Fang1

Daoyuan Wang2

Chao Yan3Email

Faqian Liu4Email

Ning Wang5

Zhanhu Guo6

Qinglong Jiang2Email

1 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio, 45409, USA

2 Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 72701, USA

3 School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, 212003, China

4 School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, 510275, China

5 State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, China

6 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

Abstract

As an interesting and important material, carbon nanotube (CNT) and boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) have been widely used in various applications such as electrical conductor, thermal management, catalyst, sensing, energy harvest and storage, tissue engineering, drug delivery, bio-imaging and cancer therapy. The special size, geometry, aspect ratio, chemical composition and electronic structure endow them the unique properties. Nanotube basics for CNT and BNNT will be covered in this review, such as structures, properties and synthesis methods.