Ordering in BxC1-x compounds with the graphite structure

Field nanoemitters: ultrathin BN nanosheets protruding from Si3N4 nanowires

Field emitters in nanoscale are important in micro/nanoelectronic devices. Here, we report a large scale synthesis and effective field emission of field nanoemitters. The integrated nanostructures of ultrathin BN nanosheets aligned on Si3N4 nanowires are prepared through a two-stage process. Si3N4 nanowires were previously synthesized through heating Si powder at 1500 degrees C under a N2 atmosphere. Ultrathin BN nanosheets were then deposited on Si3N4 nanowires by heating a homemade B-N-O precursor under a N2/NH3 atmosphere. The as-prepared nanofilaments act as cold electron emitters displaying excellent field emission performance owing to the untrathin and sharp edges of the protruding BN nanosheets.

Adsorption, diffusion, and recombination of hydrogen on pure and boron-doped graphite surfaces

Boron inserted as impurity by substitution of carbon atoms in graphite is known to modify the reactivity of the surface in interaction with hydrogen. Boron induces a better H retention capability in graphite while it makes easier the recombination into molecular hydrogen under heating in thermal-desorption experimental conditions. It has already been calculated that boron modifies the electronic structure of the surface, which results in an increase of the adsorption energy for H. This result seems in good agreement with the better retention for H in doped graphite, but contradictory with the easier recombination observed. The aim of this work is to dismiss this contradiction by elucidating the modifications induced by boron in the recombination mechanism. We studied the diffusion of H on pure and boron-doped graphite in the density functional theory framework. We determined a diffusionlike mechanism leading to molecular hydrogen formation. Finally, we have shown the fundamental modifications induced by boron on the [0001] graphite surface reactivity. From these calculations it stands out that recombination is the result of desorption on pure graphite and diffusion on B-doped surfaces, while the activation energy for the rate limiting step is half reduced by boron. The results are compared to experimental observations. The connection between the cluster and periodic quantum modes for graphite is also discussed.