Novel Route to Cubic Boron Nitride Dendritic Nanostructures under Electron Beam Irradiation

Abstract

The growth of c‐BN dendritic nanostructures (see Figure) has been investigated in situ using a combination of characterization techniques. It is concluded that the electron beam irradiation induced nucleation and growth of the nanostructures in vacuum is closely related to the nanoarches at the edge of the h‐BN starting material. A solid‐sate mechanism different from the traditional one for BN nanostructure growth from the gas phase is proposed.