Prediction of Formation of Cubic Boron Nitride Nanowires inside Silicon Nanotubes

A model that predicts the formation of cBN nanowires inside Si nanotubes was developed by taking the effect of surface tension induced by the nanosize curvature of critical nuclei and the Si nanotubes into account. The radius and formation energy of the critical nuclei of cBN, the phase transition probability, and the growth velocity of the cBN nuclei were calculated with the proposed model, and the effect of the radii of Si nanotubes on the nuclei was also investigated. The results show that the temperature and supersaturation limited to a range of 1300-1500 K and 2-5, respectively, and radii of Si nanotubes of less than 5 nm are favorable for the formation of cBN nanowires inside Si nanotubes.