A Simple, General Synthetic Route toward Nanoscale Transition Metal Borides

Abstract

Most nanomaterials, such as transition metal carbides, phosphides, nitrides, chalcogenides, etc., have been extensively studied for their various properties in recent years. The similarly attractive transition metal borides, on the contrary, have seen little interest from the materials science community, mainly because nanomaterials are notoriously difficult to synthesize. Herein, a simple, general synthetic method toward crystalline transition metal boride nanomaterials is proposed. This new method takes advantage of the redox chemistry of Sn/SnCl , the volatility and recrystallization of SnCl at the synthesis conditions, as well as the immiscibility of tin with boron, to produce crystalline phases of 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metal nanoborides with different morphologies (nanorods, nanosheets, nanoprisms, nanoplates, nanoparticles, etc.). Importantly, this method allows flexibility in the choice of the transition metal, as well as the ability to target several compositions within the same binary phase diagram (e.g., Mo B, α-MoB, MoB , Mo B ). The simplicity and wide applicability of the method should enable the fulfillment of the great potential of this understudied class of materials, which show a variety of excellent chemical, electrochemical, and physical properties at the microscale.

A Hydride Route to Ternary Alkali Metal Borides: A Case Study of Lithium Nickel Borides

“…Recently, reactive boron halide precursors have been explored for the rapid synthesis of binary borides, including refractory HfB 2 (m.p. 3473 K) and Mo 2 B 4 ‐based hydrogen‐evolution reaction catalysts . Single‐crystal growth from reactive Li or Mg fluxes was employed, including growth under high‐pressure conditions …”

“…3473 K) [19] and Mo 2 B 4 -based hydrogenevolution reactionc atalysts. [20] Single-crystal growth from reactive Li or Mg fluxes was employed, including growth under high-pressurec onditions. [21,22] Among the ternary borides, those containinga lkali metals and 3d transition metals deserve particular attention, since only three ternary phases, all of them belongingt ot he Li-Ni-B system, [23][24][25] have been reported so far from 30 possible A-T-B ternary systems (A = alkali metal, Li, Na,K ,R b, Cs; T = 3d transition metal, V-Ni).…”

Influence of alloying elements on the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of ZrB12ceramics from first‐principles calculations

“…[1-10] In comparison to diamond and boron nitride (c-BN), the transition metal borides (TMBs) are attractive potential superhard materials because of the network and shorter covalent bonding such as B B covalent bond and TM B bond. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Diborides (TMB 2 ) and transition metal tetraborides (TMB 4 ) have been widely investigated over the last years. [20][21][22][23][24] However, the reported Vickers hardness of TMB 2 or TMB 4 is difficult to meet the requirement of superhard material.…”

The Holy Grail in Platinum‐Free Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: Molybdenum‐Based Catalysts and Recent Advances

“…Even though the catalytic activity of these above mentioned MoB x is already considerable, the irregular shape and large size of catalyst particles indeed limits their HER performances and their activity should therefore be further optimized by downsizing. Advances in the synthesis of nanoscale or controllably doped MoB x must unlock their great potentials for future HER catalysts …”