University of the Basque Country team succeed in
characterizing boron nitride on a nanometric scale
The Physics of Materials team at the University of
the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), part of the Mixed Centre created between
this UPV/EHU Physics of Materials team and the European Theoretical
Spectroscopy Facility (ETSF), led by Ángel Rubio, has completed the
first comprehensive study of the properties of boron nitrite on a
nanometric scale. The prestigious journal, Physical Review Letters,
one of the most important in the field of physics, has published three
articles that summarise the findings of the team. The last of these
articles may be consulted in the new issue of the journal - number 98.
The thorough control and knowledge of the properties boron nitride
opens the door to the design of new materials based on this compound
and, likewise, has implications in other fields such as biology.
Boron nitride (BN) is a binary compound of the
element boron which consists of equal proportions of boron and
nitrogen and is used for coatings in reactors and insulation materials.
At a nano level, according to what Ángel Rubio's group has been able
to characterise, the compound has excellent electronic and mechanical
properties such as high resistance, and can emit blue light, i.e. a
wavelength shorter than red, thus augmenting storage capacity in
applications for optoelectronic devices such as DVD, aerials and
lasers. Moreover, it forms macroscopic structures (nanostructured
molecular solids) through weak, van der Waals-type interactions, which,
fundamentally, are in other fields of knowledge, particularly biology
and supramolecular chemistry, where molecular self-assembly is
dictated by these type of interactions.
The UPV/EHU team has shown, on the one hand, the
role played by these weak (van der Waals-type) interactions in the
stability of these BN nanostructures [1] and, on the other, the
properties of absorption and emission of blue light and near
ultraviolet [2], properties that are also the subject of this latest
research [3]. The results are also relevant in the understanding of
the properties of other carbon compounds (nanotubes, graphene) in
fields such as nanoelectronics, photonics and materials for biomedical
applications (sensors, biological labels, etc). All these fields are
of great current scientific interest throughout the world and great
advances are expected in the short and medium term.
Collaborating on this research with Ángel Rubio,
who recently received the DuPont Science Award for his notable
theoretical contributions to in the field of nanoscience and
molecular nanotechnology, were doctors Ludger Wirtz, Andrea Marini,
Jorge Serrano and Pablo García, as well as experimental teams from
Japan and Grenoble.
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