Coaxial nanocable: Silicon carbide and silicon oxide sheathed with boron nitride and carbon

Multielement nanotubes comprising multiple phases, with diameters of a few tens of nanometers and lengths up to 50 micrometers, were successfully synthesized by means of reactive laser ablation. The experimentally determined structure consists of a beta-phase silicon carbide core, an amorphous silicon oxide intermediate layer, and graphitic outer shells made of boron nitride and carbon layers separated in the radial direction. The structure resembles a coaxial nanocable with a semiconductor-insulator-metal (or semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) geometry and suggests applications in nanoscale electronic devices that take advantage of this self-organization mechanism for multielement nanotube formation.