Tunable porous boron nitride: Investigating its formation and its application for gas adsorption

Abstract

Boron nitride (BN) has applications in a number of areas: it can be used as lubricant, as insulating thermoconductive filler or UV-light emitter. BN can also capture large amounts of hydrocarbons and gaseous molecules, provided that it exhibits a porous structure. This porous structure also enables its application as a drug-delivery nanocarrier. Little if anything is known on controlling the porosity of BN, even though it has tremendous implications in terms of adsorption performance and drug delivery properties. To address * Corresponding Author: Camille Petit, camille.petit@imperial.ac.uk M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2 this aspect, we provide for the first time an in-depth investigation of the effects of the synthesis conditions on the formation of porous BN. The material was also tested for CO 2 capture. We found that the intermediate preparation is of paramount importance and can in fact be used to tune the porosity of BN. Owing to a combination of spectroscopic and thermal analyses, we attributed this phenomenon to the variation of the thermal decomposition pattern of the intermediates. The most microporous BN produced was able to capture CO 2 while not retaining N 2 . Overall, this study opens the route for the design of well-controlled porous BN structures to be applied as adsorbents and drug-delivery carriers.

Porous boron nitride for combined CO2 capture and photoreduction

“…We attribute this peak to the borooxynitride (B-Ox-Ny) species, which stems from the in-plane substitution of oxygen atoms into the BN lattice, as we have described in a prior study. 29,51 Quite surprisingly, oxygen atoms are also observed on h-BN (6 at%) and are most likely related to edge hydroxyl groups. Oxygen atoms can enhance CO2 adsorption 52,53 and can also allow lead to reduction in band gap, as indicated by both computational and experimental work.…”

“…The compelling features of BN include its metal-free nature as well as its tunable chemistry and structure that a priori allow for a tailored band structure. [27][28][29] Porous BN is the amorphous analogue of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), a wide band gap insulator (~5.5 eV). 30 Doping of this robust material and its utilisation in composites have been employed to reduce the band gap and allow the formation of heterojunctions, respectively.…”

A Review on the Synergistic Features of Hexagonal Boron Nitride (White Graphene) as Adsorbent‐Photo Active Nanomaterial

“…It was observed that the duration of drying periods of the crystal intermediates had a reflective effect on the crystal structure of the as‐synthesized h‐BN. The intermediates which were subjected to extend the drying periods thermally decayed between 100 °C to 250 °C releasing a large volume of porogens leaving behind highly porous h‐BN …”

“…Urea 1.85/9 Distilled Water/ N 2 1050 @ 108C min À1 !BET area of 1016 m 2 g À1 . [58] The intermediate generated was subjected to varying drying periods. !Nanosheets.…”

“…The intermediates which were subjected to extend the drying periods thermally decayed between 100 8C to 250 8C releasing a large volume of porogens leaving behind highly porous h-BN. [58] 3. Functionalization h-BN is a structural analog to graphene which has been successfully surface modified with numerous functional groups in order to enhance its interaction with various materials and redefining its self-properties to suit various applications.…”