Chen Jinhang, Cheng Yi, Scotland Phelecia, Shin Jaeho, Castelli Lorenzo, Li John Tianci, Chen Weiyin, Wyss Kevin M, Liu Qiming, Onah Obinna E, Wehmeyer Geoff, Zhao Yufeng, Tour James M
Corban University, 5000 Deer Park Drive SE, Salem, Oregon 97317, United States.
ACS Nano. 2025 Jul 15;19(27):24904-24911. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c03593. Epub 2025 Jul 1.
Boron nitride (BN) is well-known for its excellent thermal conductivity, high chemical stability, and low dielectric constant, making it widely used as a lubricant, thermal management material, and electrical insulator. For different applications, the nanostructure of BN plays a prominent role. In particular, boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are preferred for enhancing the properties in specific directions. Traditional BNNT synthetic methods often require valuable precursors and catalysts and prolonged reaction time for structure engineering, limiting their practical applications. Here, we present a dimension engineering strategy to controllably synthesize one-dimensional BNNTs and two-dimensional nanosheets (BNNSs) by flash Joule heating (FJH) within 1 min. The scalable production of ∼5 g is achieved per batch. During BN synthesis, sulfur is identified as a crucial additive that accelerates precursor dehydration and facilitates nanotube formation. When applied as additives in composites, BNNTs exhibit enhanced mechanical strength and thermal conductivity compared to BNNSs, highlighting the necessity of BN dimension engineering for diverse applications. This work offers a feasible strategy for tailoring BN nanostructures and optimizing their properties, with potential applicability in the synthesis of other nanomaterials beyond BN.
氮化硼（BN）以其优异的热导率、高化学稳定性和低介电常数而闻名，这使其被广泛用作润滑剂、热管理材料和电绝缘体。对于不同的应用，BN的纳米结构起着重要作用。特别是，氮化硼纳米管（BNNTs）在增强特定方向的性能方面更受青睐。传统的BNNT合成方法通常需要昂贵的前驱体和催化剂，并且结构工程的反应时间较长，这限制了它们的实际应用。在此，我们提出了一种尺寸工程策略，通过闪速焦耳加热（FJH）在1分钟内可控地合成一维BNNTs和二维纳米片（BNNSs）。每批可实现约5 g的可扩展生产。在BN合成过程中，硫被确定为一种关键添加剂，它能加速前驱体脱水并促进纳米管的形成。当作为添加剂应用于复合材料中时，与BNNSs相比，BNNTs表现出更高的机械强度和热导率，突出了BN尺寸工程对于多种应用的必要性。这项工作为定制BN纳米结构和优化其性能提供了一种可行的策略，在BN以外的其他纳米材料合成中具有潜在的适用性。
