Super-Hard “Tanghulu”: Cubic BP Microrod Covered with Amorphous SiO ₂ Balls

Abstract

Superhard materials, which are widely used in metallurgy, petroleum drilling, and mechanical processing, have become the key to the development of processing and manufacturing industry. Boron phosphide is an excellent Superhard candidate material with excellent chemical inertness, high thermal stability and high thermal conductivity. However, since synthesizing BP is a hard task, studies of its basic properties and potential applications are hindered to some extent. Here, we obtained a micron-scale “Tanghulu”, in the process of synthesizing boron phosphide single crystals using high-temperature flux method. Under a special appearance, “Tanghulu” has a complicated structure composed of Superhard boron phosphide single crystal microrod and spherical amorphous SiO₂ with a hardness of its body structure up to 40.16 GPa. On the basis of a comprehensive material analysis, we established the formation mechanism of this Superhard “Tanghulu” as follows: during the heating process with continuous high temperature, SiO₂ molecules on the wall of quartz tube escape and diffuse freely and adhere to the boron phosphide rod-shaped single crystal, which will aggregate then under the effect of surface tension to form an isotropic spherical amorphous SiO₂ and form the “Tanghulu” finally. Our work can help to broaden the understanding of micro-scale materials.