Photoinduced charge injection and bandgap-engineering of high-specific-surface-area BN nanotubes using a zinc phthalocyanine monolayer

High Specific Boron nitride nanotubes (HS-BNNT) were developed to load a monolayer of photosensitive zinc phthalocyanine molecules and to accept their photoinduced electrons. Optical measurement like UV/V is absorption, fluorescence, FTIR, and transient absorption techniques revealed the ground-state interactions and charge-separation phenomenon in the excited state of a ZnPc/HS-BNNT hybrid. It was also found that strong interactions between ZnPc and HS-BNNTs greatly modify the electronic structure of the BNNTs through insertion of additional acceptor, which were responsible for a new intense emission at 414 nm in the cathodoluminescence spectrum. The results show that BNNTs offer huge potential, especially those possessing a high specific surface area in the photochemical and photoelectrical fields.