Boron nanostructures

Potentially the most effective nanomaterial for use as a BNCT agent would be the boron nanotube (BNT) itself. BNTs are one of the latest materials resulting from advancements in nanotechnology. Interest in their fabrication is largely due to the variable conductivity limitations present in the well-documented CNTs. The BNTs can lead to the creation of a series of boron nanostructures, such as boron nanoribbons [85] and nanowires [86] (see Figure 7.12). 

Over the past two decades boron and boron-based nanostructures have attracted substantial attention among researchers all across the world. The superiority of boron-based nanomaterials over other one-dimensional nanostructures in different contexts of properties enforces substantial research being performed in many areas. In the following section we will mostly cover reported synthesis of boron nanostructures and boron-based materials in addition to our own contributions to this field. 

One of the major reasons for an increased interest in boron nanostructures is that boron itself has some attractive properties it has a very low density of 2.340 g/cm it has a high melting point (2076°C) and a Mohs hardness of 9.3 (diamond = 10.0). These should be reflected in boron s nanomaterials. Chemically it is of interest in that it has more valence orbitals (4) than valence electrons (3). Therefore, it tends to form so-called electron-deficient compounds having delocalized multi-centered bonds. 

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