Researchers know that boron nitride (BN) films are a very good substrate for graphene (a sheet of carbon atoms just one atom thick). This is because graphene and BN have very similar structures – the carbon atoms in graphene are arranged in a hexagonal lattice as are the boron and nitride atoms in a BN sheet. A team at Rice University, led by James Tour, has now discovered that nanotubes made of BN can be combined with graphene too and can help strengthen the carbon material by covalently binding to it. The result points to the possibility of making such “rebar” graphene not only with boron-based nanotubes, but also other with materials that have similar atomic structures…..
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/59697