Single deep ultraviolet light emission from boron nitride nanotube film

Light in deep ultraviolet (DUV) region has a wide range of applications and the demand for finding DUV light emitting materials at nanoscale is increasingly urgent as they are vital for building miniaturized optic and optoelectronic devices. We discover that boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with a well-crystallized cylindrical multiwall structure and diameters smaller than 10 nm can have single DUV emission at 225 nm (5.51eV). The measured BNNTs are grown on substrate in the form of a thin film. This study suggests that BNNTs may work as nanosized DUV light sources for various applications. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3497261]