Length Distribution of DNA-Wrapped Boron Nitride Nanotubes

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are an emerging nanomaterial with promising properties for applications in elevated temperature and hazardous environments. BNNTs are mechanically robust and have extraordinary thermal and chemical stability. However, the structure polydispersity of BNNTs presents special challenges for its processing and applications. In this work, the length distribution of various aqueous dispersions of BNNT wrapped by DNA (DNA-BNNTs) is evaluated as a start of its liquid phase processing. Additionally, we performed the length separation of BNNTs using a polymer precipitation method previously developed for carbon nanotubes [1]. The attempt at length separation was done using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a crowding agent. The PEG concentrations ranged from (1.4 -5.2) % by mass. We used scanning electron microscopy, as well as UV-vis optical spectroscopy to characterize the length distribution of various samples. An average length of 276 nm was found for the initial tip sonicated aqueous dispersion of DNA-BNNTs.

[1] Khripin, C. Y., Arnold-Medabalimi, N. A., Zheng, M; ACSNANO, 2011, VOL. 5, 8258-8266.