  Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are of intense scientific interests due to
their unique physiochemical properties and prospective applications in various
nanotechnologies. A critical problem hampering the application processing of
BNNTs is the outer sidewall functionalization, which is primarily acquired to
lead BNNTs dispersible in various solvents. Furthermore, the surface of BNNTs
should be intelligently designed and precisely controlled to satisfy the
specific demands of different applications. For these purposes, covalent and
noncovalent approaches have been factually developed for opening up the key
door of applications. Importantly, wrapping the outermost sidewall of BNNTs
with either water-soluble polymers or biomolecules through weak noncovalent
interactions has been proved to be efficient for giving BNNTs considerable
dispersity in aqueous media, and endowing novel chemical functions to the BNNTs
with almost no change in their pristine physiochemical properties. This
contribution is made to summarize recent progresses, and further addresses the
future perspectives on the noncovalent functionalization of BNNTs for promoting
their application processing.
