Scalable, Highly Pure, and Diameter-Sorted Boron Nitride Nanotube by Aqueous Polymer Two-Phase Extraction

Abstract

Boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) has attracted recent attention owing to its exceptional material properties; yet, practical implementation in real-life applications has been elusive, mainly due to the purity issues associated with its large-scale synthesis. Although different purification methods have been discussed so far, there lacks a scalable solution method in the community. In this work, a simple, high-throughput, and scalable purification of BNNT is reported via modification of an established sorting technique, aqueous polymer two-phase extraction. A complete partition mapping of the boron nitride species is established, which enables the segregation of the highly pure BNNT with a major impurity removal efficiency of > 98%. A successful scaling up of the process is illustrated and provides solid evidence of its diameter sorting behavior. Last, towards its macroscopic assemblies, a liquid crystal of the purified BNNT is demonstrated. The effort toward large-scale solution purification of BNNT is believed to contribute significantly to the macroscopic realization of its exceptional properties in the near future.