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

By Qiuwen Liu, Cheng Chen, Man Du, Yawei Wu, Chunjin Ren, Kaining Ding, M. Song, Caijin Huang. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2018

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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.

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

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