Research Article

EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD

Volume: 33 Number: 2 August 22, 2025
EN TR

EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets have attracted significant attention due to their unique mechanical, thermal, and electronic properties. Their biocompatibility, thermal conductivity, chemical stability, and versatility make them indispensable in cutting-edge technologies. Hydroxy-functionalized h-BN nanosheets (h-BNNS-OH) exhibit immense potential in various applications, including electrochemical energy storage, drug delivery systems, and heat spreaders in thermal management systems. This study focuses on the hydrothermally ion-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation of h-BN powder to produce few-layer h-BNNS-OH. The exfoliation process involves hydrothermal treatment of bulk h-BN in the presence of concentrated aqueous solution of KOH and NaOH at 180 °C, followed by sonication for dispersion of h-BNNS-OH in water. Characterization of h-BNNSs was performed using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The resulting exfoliated h-BNNSs are hydroxyl-functionalized on their surface. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the successive execution of the hydrothermal treatment in the presence of excess alkali metal hydroxides and probe sonication as a facile and efficient exfoliation process, resulting in dispersions of h-BNNS-OH in water with remarkably high stability (beyond 9 weeks) and high product yield (17 %) at only one exfoliation cycle.

Keywords

liquid-phase exfoliation , hexagonal boron nitride , hydroxy-functionalized hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets , hydroxylated hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets , probe sonication

References

  1. Cai, Q., Li, L.H, Mateti, S., Bhattacharjee, A., Fan, Y., Huang, S., & Chen, Y.I. (2024). "Boron Nitride Nanosheets: Thickness-Related Properties and Applications." Advanced Functional Materials 34(40): 2403669. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202403669
  2. Cai, Q., Scullion, D., Gan, W., Falin, A., Zhang, S., Watanabe, K., … Li, L.H. (2019). "High thermal conductivity of high-quality monolayer boron nitride and its thermal expansion." Science Advances 5(6): eaav0129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav0129
  3. de los Reyes, C. A., Hernández, K., Martínez-Jiménez, C., Walz Mitra, K.L., Ginestra, C., Smith McWilliams, A. D., Pasquali, M., … Martí, A. A. (2019). "Tunable Alkylation of White Graphene (Hexagonal Boron Nitride) Using Reductive Conditions." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 123(32): 19725-19733. DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b05416
  4. de Moraes, A. C. M., Hyun, W. J., Luu, N. S., Lim, J.-M., Park, K.-Y., & Hersam, M. C. (2020). "Phase-Inversion Polymer Composite Separators Based on Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheets for High-Temperature Lithium-Ion Batteries." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12(7): 8107-8114. DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b18134
  5. Fu, L., Wang, T., Yu, J., Dai, W., Sun, H., Liu, Z., …Lin, C.-T. (2017). "An ultrathin high-performance heat spreader fabricated with hydroxylated boron nitride nanosheets." 2D Materials 4(2): 025047. DOI: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1583/aa636e
  6. Gautam, C. & Chelliah, S. (2021). "Methods of hexagonal boron nitride exfoliation and its functionalization: covalent and non-covalent approaches." RSC Advances 11(50): 31284-31327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA05727H
  7. Griffin, A., Harvey, A., Cunningham, B., Scullion, D., Tian, T., Shih, C.-J., . . . Coleman, J. N. (2018). Spectroscopic Size and Thickness Metrics for Liquid-Exfoliated h-BN. Chemistry of Materials, 30(6), 1998-2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b05188
  8. Goni, F., Chemelli, A. & Uhlig, F. (2021). "High-Yield Production of Selected 2D Materials by Understanding Their Sonication-Assisted Liquid-Phase Exfoliation." Nanomaterials 11(12): 3253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123253
  9. Gorbachev, R. V., Riaz, I., Nair, R. R., Jalil, R., Britnell, L., Belle …Blake, P. (2011). "Hunting for Monolayer Boron Nitride: Optical and Raman Signatures." Small 7(4): 465-468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201001628
  10. Guerra, V., Wan, C., Degirmenci, V., Sloan, J., Presvytis, D. & McNally, T. (2018). "2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) prepared by high-pressure homogenisation: structure and morphology." Nanoscale 10(41): 19469-19477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NR06429F
APA
Yaman Uzunoğlu, G. (2025). EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik Ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, 33(2), 1874-1881. https://doi.org/10.31796/ogummf.1648475
AMA
1.Yaman Uzunoğlu G. EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi. 2025;33(2):1874-1881. doi:10.31796/ogummf.1648475
Chicago
Yaman Uzunoğlu, Gülşah. 2025. “EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD”. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik Ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi 33 (2): 1874-81. https://doi.org/10.31796/ogummf.1648475.
EndNote
Yaman Uzunoğlu G (August 1, 2025) EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi 33 2 1874–1881.
IEEE
[1]G. Yaman Uzunoğlu, “EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD”, Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 1874–1881, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.31796/ogummf.1648475.
ISNAD
Yaman Uzunoğlu, Gülşah. “EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD”. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi 33/2 (August 1, 2025): 1874-1881. https://doi.org/10.31796/ogummf.1648475.
JAMA
1.Yaman Uzunoğlu G. EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi. 2025;33:1874–1881.
MLA
Yaman Uzunoğlu, Gülşah. “EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD”. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik Ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 33, no. 2, Aug. 2025, pp. 1874-81, doi:10.31796/ogummf.1648475.
Vancouver
1.Gülşah Yaman Uzunoğlu. EFFICIENT AND FACILE SYNTHESIS OF HYDROXY-FUNCTIONALIZED HEXAGONAL BORON NITRIDE NANOSHEETS BY ION-ASSISTED LIQUID PHASE EXFOLIATION METHOD. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Mühendislik ve Mimarlık Fakültesi Dergisi. 2025 Aug. 1;33(2):1874-81. doi:10.31796/ogummf.1648475