Boron nitride analogs of fullerenes (the fulborenes), nanotubes, and fullerites (the fulborenites)

The molecules B12N12, B24N24 and B60N60 (named by us as fulborenes) have been proposed as boron nitride analogs of the fullerenes, especially B60N60 as the analog of C-60. Modified neglect of diatomic overlap computation was performed to confirm their stability. Multiwalled BN nanotubes and onions were produced by carbothermal synthesis. Their structure and mechanisms of growth and formation were studied by TEM, X-ray spectral microanalysis, and molecular dynamics techniques using B-B, B-N, and N-N original interatomic potentials. Ten possible zeolite-like crystals built from these molecules (named by us as fulborenites) were predicted, and their lattice parameters and densities were calculated. Comparison with explosive experiments allow us to identify the simple cubic fulborenite B12N12 with intermediate phase of BN. New original ideas were suggested of: (i) a "hyper-diamond" based on B12N12-fulborenite with zincblende lattice, (ii) a "superdense diamond" based on Me2B12N12-fulborenide with bcc lattice, and (iii) a quantum hypersound generator based on BN nanotube. (C) 2000 Academic Press.