Structural and thermal properties of boron nitride nanoparticles

In the present study, our main motivation was to investigate the structural and thermal stability of BN nanoparticles (B1.0N0.9-NPs) produced by spray-pyrolysis (SP) of borazine at 1400 degrees C by thermogravimetric experiments and X-ray diffraction. We observed that B1.0N0.9-NPs are relatively stable in air below 850 degrees C in which only oxidation of the NP surface proceeded. Above 850 degrees C, the powders started to strongly react with air due to bulk oxidation. Under nitrogen, they appeared to be less stable than plate-like BN synthesized from borazine at 1400 degrees C through conventional pyrolysis. This is related to the low degree of crystallization of B1.0N0.9-NPs that clearly affects their stability. Using a post-pyrolysis treatment at 1400 degrees C, B1.0N0.9-NPs remained stable up to 1600 degrees C similarly to plate-like BN. However, above 1600 degrees C, a relatively fast weight loss occurred for B1.0N0.9-NPs, whereas plate-like BN remained stable up to 1800 degrees C. This indicated that their lower size also affects their high temperature thermal behavior. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.