Atomic and electronic structures of boron nitride nanohorns studied by high-resolution electron microscopy and molecular orbital calculations

摘要

Boron nitride (BN) nanohoms with various tip angles were synthesized by an arc-melting method, and atomic structure models for BN nanohoms were proposed from high-resolution electron microscopy. Stability and electronic structures of the BN nanohoms were investigated by molecular orbital/mechanics calculations, which indicated that multi-walled BN nanohoms would be stabilized by stacking of BN nanohoms. The energy gaps of the BN nanohoms were calculated to be 0.20 approx 0.85 eV, which are lower compared to those of BN clusters and nanotubes.