Growth and Dissolve of Defects in Boron Nitride Nanotube

The defect formation energy of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes is investigated using molecular-dynamics simulation. Although the defect with tetragon-octagon pairs (4-88-4) is favored in the flat cap of BN nanotubes, BN clusters, and the growth of BN nanotubes, the formation energy of the 4-88-4 defect is significantly higher than that of the pentagon-heptagon pairs (5-77-5) defect in BN nanotubes. The 5-77-5 defect reduces the effect of the structural distortion caused by the 4-88-4 defect, in spite of homoelemental bonds. The instability of the 4-88-4 defect generates the structural transformation into BNNTs with no defect at about 1500 K.