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Summary: Water Permeation through a Subnanometer Boron Nitride Nanotube
Chang Y. Won and N. R. Aluru*
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Beckman Institute for AdVanced Science and Technology,
UniVersity of Illinois at UrbanasChampaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Received December 5, 2006; E-mail: aluru@uiuc.edu
Water-filled nanometer-scale porous structures have gained
considerable attention over the past decade due to their enormous
promise in substantially improving the performance and efficiency
of many applications such as biological/chemical systems,1-3 water
purification systems,4 fuel cell devices,5 etc. Single-walled carbon
nanotubes (SWCNTs), due to their extraordinary physical and
chemical properties, are currently being investigated for a number
of the above-mentioned applications. Molecular dynamics (MD)
simulations by Hummer and his co-workers6 have indicated that a
(6,6) CNT with a diameter of approximately 8 Å can conduct water
at 300 K. The wetting behavior of the carbon nanotube was
confirmed by experimental study.7 Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)
possess many of the superior properties of CNTs such as a high
Young's modulus8 and thermal conductivity,9 but unlike CNTs,
BNNTs exhibit high resistance to oxidation10 and a wide band gap
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