Superhydrophobicity of boron nitride nanotubes grown on silicon substrates
© 2009 American Chemical Society. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1021/la900511z
Abstract
Partially vertical aligned boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) on Si substrates are found to be superhydrophobic in contrast to boron nitride (BN) thin films. While the hexagonal-phase BN films are partially wetted by water with advancing contact angle of about 50°, partially vertically aligned BNNTs can achieve superhydrophobic state with advancing water contact angle exceeding 150°. Our results show that the pH value of water does not affect the wetting characteristics of BNNTs. Since BN is chemically inert, resistive to oxidation up to 900 °C, and transparent to visible−UV light, BNNTs could potentially be useful as self-cleaning, transparent, insulating, anticorrosive coatings under rigorous chemical and thermal conditions.