A composition comprising a porous carbon material comprising mesopores, micropores, marcopores, or any combination thereof, is provided. Further, articles comprising the composition and methods of preparing same are provided. Further, a process of oxidizing hydrazine is provided.

A method for producing an aligned boron nitride nanotube film includes drying a dispersion containing boron nitride nanotubes, a biopolymer, and a solvent.

A method of treating an elongated conductive element comprises exposing a conductive element sequentially to at least two dopants being different in composition. The dopants may include an acidic dopant and a halogen-based dopant. The conductive element comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes and has a linear density in a range from about 0.1 tex to about 2.0 tex. The method further comprises mechanically densifying the conductive element. The elongated conductive element comprises at least one carbon nanotube fiber doped with a plurality of p-type dopants comprising at least one acidic dopant and at least one halogen-based dopant. The at least one carbon nanotube fiber has an electrical resistivity equal to or less than about 55 μΩ.Math.cm and an ultimate tensile strength equal to or greater than about 1 GPa.

Disclosed is a method of purifying boron nitride nanotubes through a simplified process. Specifically, the method includes preparing a starting solution containing boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), a dispersant and a solvent, centrifuging the starting solution or allowing the starting solution to stand to collect a supernatant, adding an acid to the supernatant and filtering a resulting product.

Solar cells fabricated from p-n junctions of boron nitride nanotubes alloyed with carbon are described. Band gaps of boron nitride carbon alloys are tailored by controlling carbon content in the boron nitride nanotubes. High efficiency solar cells can be fabricated by tailoring the band gap of boron nitride carbon alloy nanotubes, and using these nanotubes for fabricating solar cells u. Because boron nitride carbon alloy nanotubes are transparent to most wavelengths of light, the wavelengths not converted to electrons (i.e., absorbed) at a first p-n junction in a solar cell will pass through the stack to another p-n junction in the stack having a different band gap. At each successive p-n junction, each of which has a different band gap from the other p-n junctions in the stack, more wavelengths of light will be converted into electricity. This dramatically increases the efficiency of solar cells.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for producing boron nitride nanotubes, said method reducing the ratio of by-products having less reinforcing effects such as boron nitride fullerenes and boron nitride thin pieces, while enhancing the yield at the same time, without requiring a thermal oxidation treatment. The present invention provides a method for producing boron nitride nanotubes, said method being characterized by comprising: a step for obtaining a suspension by mixing a starting material that contains boron nitride nanotubes, a nonionic polymer dispersant having an sp3-bonded CH group, and an organic solvent; and a step for obtaining a dispersion liquid containing boron nitride nanotubes by subjecting the thus-obtained suspension to centrifugal separation, thereby removing by-products contained in the starting material.

The present application relates to boron nitride nanotube (BNNT)-silicate glass composites and to methods of preparing such composites. The methods comprise mixing BNNTs that are coated with a glass former such as boron oxide with a silicate glass precursor to create a mixture; heating the mixture under conditions to obtain a molten silicate glass; and cooling the molten silicate glass under conditions to obtain the BNNT-silicate glass composite.

Thermal interface materials may be enhanced through the dispersion of refined boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) into a polymer matrix material and one or more microfillers. A refined BNNT material may be formed by reducing free boron particle content from an as-synthesized BNNT material, and in some embodiments reducing h-BN content. Reducing these species improves the thermal conductivity of the BNNTs. Refined BNNTs may be deagglomerated to reduce the size and mass of BNNTs in agglomerations when the deagglomerated BNNT material is dispersed into a target polymer matrix material. The deagglomerated BNNT material may be lyophilized prior to dispersion in the matrix material, to retain the deagglomeration benefit following return to solid state. The surface of the deagglomerated BNNT material may be modified, with one or more functional groups that improve dispersibility and heat transfer in the target polymer matrix material.

A lightweight flexible BNNT mat or fabric provides improved thermal stability and shielding capabilities under a hypersonic thermal flux. The BNNT mat reduces the stagnation temperature and maintains a low regression rate. An in-situ passivation layer may be formed on the BNNT mat or fabric under high thermal flux. The passivation layer minimizes or prevents penetration of the atmosphere (air or gas) as well as heat and radiation through the thickness of the BNNT material, and it effectively diffuses heat throughout the mat or fabric laterally and radially to minimize localized excessive heat. A BNNT mat according to the present disclosure may also efficiently transfer heat from the BNNT material via radiation due to the high thermal emissivity (0.92) of the BNNT material.

A carbon film is formed from carbon nanotube assemblies. In the carbon film, a pore distribution curve indicating the relationship between the pore size and the Log differential pore capacity obtained based on mercury intrusion porosimetry has at least one peak with a log differential pore capacity of 1.0 cm.sup.3/g or more within a pore size range of 10 nm or more and 100 m or less.