Hexagonal boron nitride has displayed increased potential in heat dissipation applications due to its desirable high thermal conductivity and remarkable thermal stability. However, the large-yield and high-quality preparation of boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) has been still an enormous challenge. In present work, we developed a universal exfoliation strategy to synthesize few-layer and defect-free BNNSs, which involved the intercalation of hexafluorosilicates/sodium hydroxide into BN crystals followed by exfoliation through a mild stirring process. The yield and concentration of as-obtained BNNS reached up to 78.5% and 12.78 mg/mL, respectively. More importantly, this method has been proven to exfoliate other layered materials like graphene (G), MoS2, and WS2. These as-obtained BNNSs can be directly used for constructing freestanding papers with high thermal conductivities. Typically, the thermal conductivities of the BNNS-G hybrid paper were up to 63.5 W/mK along the in-plane direction and 7.4 W/mK along the through-plane direction. According to the thermal interface materials performance measures, BNNS-G hybrid paper shows great promising applications for heat transfer in integrated circuit packaging.

Emergency-response closing (ERC) of diffusion pathways for aggressive species in graphene/epoxy (G/EP) coatings was achieved via terpyridine derivative (TDD)-functionalized graphene oxide (tGO). Under stimulation from corrosion produced ferrous (Fe2+) ions, tGO sheets urgently aggregated through complexation reminiscent of leaves closing on a mimosa. Consequently, the coating showed significantly decreased oxygen (ORT) and water vapor transmittance rate (WVTR) changes after immersion in ferrous solution. According to the simulation and electrochemical results, tGO sheets could self-assemble into 3D architectures with Fe2+ ions and efficiently protect metals from aggressive species attack. This tGO/EP coating provided an ERC function via self-adaptability with the Fe2+ ions to achieve long-term anticorrosion. The application of tGO/EP to the protection of metal components is therefore validated as a fascinating route for the enhancement of anticorrosion efficiency on graphene anticorrosive coatings, with great potential in durable anticorrosive coatings application.

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials like graphene (G) and boron nitride (BN) have been used to fabricate nanofluids for applications in thermal management. Both excellent filler dispersion and high thermal conduction are required for the different nanofluids. However, 2D nanofluids that remain in a stable dispersion state, yet with high thermal conductivity, have not yet been developed. Herein, edge-functional 2D composite nanosheets of graphene and boron nitride (G/BN) were synthesized through a green dry ice-assisted ball milling technique. The thermal performance of the G/BN aqueous nanofluids was first investigated. We found that the thermal conductivity of the G/BN aqueous nanofluids was up to 1.62 W mK–1 at 5 vol % loading. According to the surface temperature changes of a verification system for simulating the heat dissipation process, the G/BN aqueous nanofluids had a higher transfer heat capability than that of pure water. Therefore, G/BN showed great potential in coolant applications.