Crystalline boron nitride nanosheets by sonication-assisted hydrothermal exfoliation

• Published in: Journal of advanced ceramics Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 72 - 78
• Main Authors: Tian, Zhaobo, Chen, Kexin, Sun, Siyuan, Zhang, Jie, Cui, Wei, Xie, Zhipeng, Liu, Guanghua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.03.2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Boron; Boron compounds; Boron nitride; boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS); Cavitation; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Exfoliation; Glass; high crystallinity; hydrothermal method; Layered materials; Materials Science; Nanosheets; Nanotechnology; Natural Materials; Nitrides; Pressure effects; Research Article; Silicones; sonication-assisted; Structural Materials; Synergistic effect; high crystallinity; sonication-assisted; boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS); hydrothermal method
• ISSN: 2226-4108; 2227-8508
• DOI: 10.1007/s40145-018-0293-1

A simple method to prepare two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) scalably is essential for practical applications. Despite intense research in this area, high-yield production of two-dimensional h-BN with large size and high crystallinity is still a key challenge. In the present work, we propose a simple exfoliation process for boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) with high crystallinity by sonication-assisted hydrothermal method, via the synergistic effect of the high pressure, and cavitation of the sonication. Compared with the method only by sonication, the sonication-assisted hydrothermal method can get the fewer-layer BNNSs with high crystallinity. Meanwhile, it can reach higher yield of nearly 1.68%, as the hydrothermal method with the yield of only 0.12%. The simple sonication-assisted hydrothermal method has potential applications in exfoliating other layered materials, thus opening new ways to produce other layered materials in high yield and high crystallinity.