Room temperature growth of two-dimensional van der Waals (2D-vdW) materials is indispensable for state-of-the-art nanotechnology as it supersedes the requirement of elevated growth temperature accompanied with additional high thermal budgets,...

With the development of energy storage technology, the demand for high energy density and high security batteries is increasing, making the research of lithium battery (LB) technology an extremely important pursuit. However, the poor structural stability of electrode materials, high interfacial impedance between electrolyte and electrode, and the growth of lithium dendrites have seriously hindered the commercialization of LBs. Recently, due to their unique electronic structures and hybrid forms, boron‐based materials have been widely used in different LB components, such as electrodes, electrolytes, separators, additives, and binders, to resolve these problems. Here, a basic understanding of boron and boron‐based materials is first introduced. Subsequently, the recent research progress on the application of boron in each component of the LB is summarized, aiming to understand the hybrid forms of boron and their potential for use in LB materials. Finally, some new strategies and perspectives on the application of boron in LB materials are proposed. Here, the aim is to provide a clear insight on the study of boron in energy storage materials and contribute to the promotion of further research in this area.

No abstract

Functionalized, especially aminated boron-doped diamond (BDD), is of great interest for catalytic, molecular, and biosensing applications due to its attractive properties. Among various established techniques for diamond amination, UV irradiation in ammonia gas (NH 3 ) has been adopted widely for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. However, the resultant amination efficiency is found to be relatively low, hindering its usefulness in relevant technologies. In this work, we report a novel strategy for BDD amination by UV irradiation in NH 3 that enhances the amination efficiency and results in primary amine dominance. We showed that with hydrobromic acid (HBr) treatment, the nitrogen concentration increased to greater than 6% on the BDD surface. Importantly, it was found that the partial concentrations of both amine groups (primary −NH 2 and secondary �NH) strongly depend on the preoxidation states of hydrogenated BDD (HBDD). HBDD treated with sulfuric and nitric acids (H 2 SO 4 /HNO 3 ) presented a primary amine group (−NH 2 ) coverage of approximately 94%, whereas the one modified by piranha solution was approximately 63% after amination. Additionally, with such treatments, the sp 2 carbon cleaning and surface smoothening effects were also observed on the BDD, which provides an alternative to cleaning the diamond surface. Theoretical simulations provided insights into the mechanisms of HBr treatment, stability of nitrogen-related groups, and relative group formation. Our work demonstrates the improved amination efficiency and the dominant amine group coverage on the BDD surface, which will be useful for various applications.

Wide and ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors lie at the heart of next-generation high-power, high-frequency electronics. Here, we report the growth of ultrawide-bandgap boron nitride (BN) thin films on wide-bandgap gallium nitride (GaN) by pulsed laser deposition. Comprehensive spectroscopic (core level and valence band x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman) and microscopic (atomic force microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy) characterizations confirm the growth of BN thin films on GaN. Optically, we observed that the BN/GaN heterostructure is second-harmonic generation active. Moreover, we fabricated the BN/GaN heterostructure-based Schottky diode that demonstrates rectifying characteristics, lower turn-on voltage, and an improved breakdown capability (∼234 V) as compared to GaN (∼168 V), owing to the higher breakdown electrical field of BN. Our approach is an early step toward bridging the gap between wide and ultrawide-bandgap materials for potential optoelectronics as well as next-generation high-power electronics.