(198n) Characterizing the Aqueous Dispersion of DNA-Assisted Boron Nitride Nanotubes

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) gained a significant attention in the scientific community due to their unique thermal, mechanical and chemical properties. However, BNNTs tend to form bundles in an aqueous medium due to their strong van der Waals interactions. As a result, the poor quality of BNNT dispersions would limit the potential liquid phase processing and applications development of BNNTs. In this work, the dispersion quality and yield of single-stranded DNA-assisted BNNTs (DNA-BNNTs) were examined against various parameters, including the ratio of DNA: BNNTs by mass, the DNA sequence using single nucleotides A₈, C₈, G₈, T₈, the DNA length using (GT)_n sequences, where n=5,10,15,20, and the salt concentration in the range of 0-100 mM. The dispersion microstructure and phase behaviour of DNA-BNNTs in dilute and semidilute regime were further explored by microscopy and rheology. This will be extended to DNA-BNNT dispersions at even higher concentrations in our future studies, which will enable us to better design macroscopic assemblies of films with improved properties.