Scientists from Rice University, Cornell University, the Army Research Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur mixed hexagonal boron nitride – a soft variety also known as "white graphite" – with cubic boron nitride – a material second to diamond in hardness – and found that the resulting nanocomposite interacted with light and heat in unexpected ways that could be useful in next-generation microchips and quantum devices. "What is fascinating about this study is that it opens up possibilities to tailor boron nitride materials with the right amounts of hexagonal and cubic structures, thus enabling a broad range of tailored mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties in this material," said Pulickel Ajayan, one of the scientists involved in this study.
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