The calculated
properties of a three-dimensional hybrid of graphene and boron nitride nanotubes
would have
pseudomagnetic properties, according to researchers at Rice University and
Montreal
Polytechnic.
(Credit: Shahsavari Lab/Rice University)
(January 13, 2016) Rice,
Montreal Polytechnic study details electromagnetic properties of graphene-boron
nitride materials
Developing novel materials from the atoms up goes faster
when some of the trial and error is eliminated. A new Rice University and
Montreal Polytechnic study aims to do that for graphene and boron nitride
hybrids.
Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari and Farzaneh
Shayeganfar, a postdoctoral researcher at Montreal Polytechnic, designed
computer simulations that combine graphene, the atom-thick form of carbon, with
either carbon or boron nitride nanotubes.
Their hope is that such hybrids can leverage the best
aspects of their constituent materials. Defining the properties of various
combinations would simplify development for manufacturers who want to use these
exotic materials in next-generation electronics. The researchers found not only
electronic but also magnetic properties that could be useful.
Their results appear in the journal Carbon.
Shahsavari’s lab studies materials to see how they can be
made more efficient, functional and environmentally friendly. They include
macroscale materials like cement and ceramics as well as nanoscale hybrids with
unique properties.
Researchers at
Rice University and Montreal Polytechnic analyzed the electromagnetic effects
of junctions
between nanotubes and graphene sheets. From top to bottom are a graphene/carbon
nanotube hybrid
with seven-membered junctions, a graphene/carbon nanotube hybrid with
eight-membered
junctions and a graphene/BNNT hybrid with eight-membered junctions.
(Credit:
Shahsavari Lab/Rice University)
“Whether it’s on the macro- or microscale, if we can know
specifically what a hybrid will do before anyone goes to the trouble of
fabricating it, we can save cost and time and perhaps enable new properties not
possible with any of the constituents,” Shahsavari said.
His lab’s computer models simulate how the intrinsic
energies of atoms influence each other as they bond into molecules. For the new
work, the researchers modeled hybrid structures of graphene and carbon
nanotubes and of graphene and boron nitride nanotubes.
“We wanted to investigate and compare the electronic and
potentially magnetic properties of different junction configurations, including
their stability, electronic band gaps and charge transfer,” he said. “Then we
designed three different nanostructures with different junction geometry.”