Porous Hexagonal Boron Nitride Sheets: Effect of Hydroxyl and Secondary Amino Groups on Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an emerging two-dimensional material, has attracted great attention in various fields. However, due to its large band gap (ca. 6 eV), h-BN has not yet been exploited as a photocatalyst. Here, we demonstrate a porous h-BN sheets with rich hydroxyl (-OH) and secondary amino (-NH) groups, which can effectively decrease the band gap of h-BN. Porous h-BN sheets were synthesized via combustion of boron acid and urea at high temperature under nitrogen atmosphere. The as-obtained porous h-BN has a narrower band gap and a higher photocatalytic activity on hydrogen evolution than commercial h-BN. To further understand this photocatalytic performance, we investigated the groups, structure, and related optical and electrochemical properties for both porous and commercial h-BN. This work holds promise for h-BN to be used in the photocatalysis field.

Enhanced mechanical and anisotropic thermal conductive properties of polyimide nanocomposite films reinforced with hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets

“…In the XPS N 1s spectrum (Figure 3(c)), two peaks at 397.7 and 398.6 eV are assigned to NB and NH bonds, respectively. It demonstrates that hydroxyl and secondary amino groups are present in the exfoliated BNNSs 26 . In addition, the XPS O 1s spectrum in Figure 3(d) is composed of three peaks at 532.5, 533.3, and 534.2 eV, which stem from OH, OB, and OH bonds, respectively.…”

Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g‐C3N4) Nanosheets as a Multipurpose Material for Detection of Amines and Solar‐Driven Hydrogen Production

“…The estimated bandgap energy from Kubelka‐Munk function [29] and Tauc plots [30] is 2.65 and 2.75 eV for CN−KNa and bulk CN samples (Figure 2(b)), respectively. Furthermore, the relative conduction band positions of the CN−KNa and bulk CN samples were correspondingly determined to be −0.15 and −0.22 eV by Mott‐Schottky plots, [31] as shown in Figure 2(c). Otherwise, the valence band of CN−KNa was shifted to the lower potential as compared to the bare CN (Figure 2(d)).…”

2D Semiconductor Bi2WO6 Nanosheets as the Pt Carriers for Ethylene Glycol Oxidation Reaction with Photoelectric Interaction

“…This might be due to the absorption of black metallic Pt. In general, Kubelka–Munk equation is used to calculate the band gap of Bi 2 WO 6 . The corresponding transition graph of plots of ( ahv ) 2 versus energy is shown in Figure C.…”