Owning many peculiar properties, hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) have lots of potential applications, such as electronic devices and deep ultraviolet emitters. In this article, a chemical exfoliation method to prepare few-layer and large size BNNSs is reported. Through related instrument characterizations, we demonstrated that this preparation method can allow the exfoliation of BNNSs from bulk BN powder successfully. From CL spectra, the as-prepared BNNSs were proved to show stronger CL emission ability than BN powder. Based on the experiment results analysis, we proposed an exfoliation mechanism and verified it through in situ SEM detection.

As the first example of a photocatalytic system for splitting water without additional cocatalysts and photosensitizers, the comparatively cost-effective Cu I -based MOF, Cu-I-bpy (bpy=4,4'-bipyridine) exhibited highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production (7.09 mmol g h ). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations established the electronic structures of Cu-I-bpy with a narrow band gap of 2.05 eV, indicating its semiconductive behavior, which is consistent with the experimental value of 2.00 eV. The proposed mechanism demonstrates that Cu I clusters of Cu-I-bpy serve as photoelectron generators to accelerate the copper(I) hydride interaction, providing redox reaction sites for hydrogen evolution. The highly stable cocatalyst-free and self-sensitized Cu-I-bpy provides new insights into the future design of cost-effective d -based MOFs for highly efficient and long-term solar fuels production.

A novel, simple, and efficient method for the preparation of the fluorinated hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (F-BNNSs) and the corresponding magnetic properties is presented. A one-step route is used to exfoliate and fluorinate the BNNSs by ammonium fluoride (NH4F) from hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) powder. Through related instrument characterizations and theoretical calculations, we confirm that large-area and few-layer F-BNNSs were successfully produced by this method, which can be attributed to a fluorination-assisted exfoliation mechanism from the bulk h-BN in NH4F. More intriguingly, we initially verified that the as-prepared F-BNNSs exhibit ferromagnetic characteristics, which would have good potential applications in spintronic devices.