Boron-Based Low-Dimensional Nanoclusters and Nanomaterials

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 667

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
2. Program of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Interests: prediction of nanoclusters and nanoalloys; computational catalyst; lithium battery modelling; electronic structure and spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Institut Européen des Membranes (IEM-UMR5635 ENSCM, UM, CNRS), Universite de Montpellier, Place Eugene Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier, France
Interests: boron nitride; fibers; nanotubes; nanostructured ceramics; porous ceramics; membranes; hierarchical materials; molecular and polymeric precursors of non-oxide ceramics; borazine; borazine-based preceramic polymers; boron-based materials for hydrogen storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past two decades, researchers have achieved significant progress in predicting, synthesizing and characterizing various forms of boron nanomaterials, ranging from zero-dimensional nanoclusters to two-dimensional borophene. These materials exhibit distinct bonding configurations due to their low dimensionality, contrasting with the icosahedral structures found in bulk boron crystals. This structural diversity leads to intriguing physical and chemical properties, driving interest in boron nanomaterials within the materials science community.

Of particular note is the recent experimental realization of borophene, a single-atom two-dimensional layer of boron. This breakthrough was achieved by depositing evaporated boron atoms onto Ag(111) surfaces under ultra-high vacuum conditions (Science. 2015, 350, 1513–1516; Nat Chem. 2016, 8, 563–568; Nat Chem. 2016, 8, 525–527). Borophene's emergence has spurred extensive theoretical and experimental investigations, including a wide range of applications, such as in superconductors, hydrogen storage, batteries, catalysts and electronics and for drug deliveries.

This Special Issue aims to comprehensively cover the theoretical design, experimental synthesis, characterization and understanding of the unique physical and chemical properties of boron-based nanoclusters and nanomaterials. Through this exploration, we seek to further elucidate the potential of boron nanomaterials for diverse applications in materials science and beyond.

References

  • Andrew J. Mannix et al. Synthesis of borophenes: Anisotropic, two-dimensional boron polymorphs. Science 350, 1513-1516 (2015). DOI:10.1126/science.aad1080.
  • Feng, B., Zhang, J., Zhong, Q. et al. Experimental realization of two-dimensional boron sheets. Nature Chem 8, 563–568 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2491.
  • Zhang, Z., Penev, E. & Yakobson, B. Polyphony in B flat. Nature Chem 8, 525–527 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2521.

Dr. Wanlu Li
Prof. Dr. Philippe Miele
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • boron
  • low-dimension
  • nanoclusters
  • nanomaterials
  • prediction and synthesis

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 6465 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Thermal Transport Properties of Pristine and BN-Substituted Holey Graphynes
by Qingchen Li, Yujie Zhang, Yanlong Liu, Yan Gao and Baoxia Deng
Inorganics 2025, 13(4), 128; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics13040128 - 21 Apr 2025
Abstract
The merging of pore designs is a potential strategy for achieving ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity (κ), for which phonon anharmonicity and size effect are indispensable for discovering novel functional materials in thermal applications. In this study, monolayer holey graphyne (HGY) and [...] Read more.
The merging of pore designs is a potential strategy for achieving ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity (κ), for which phonon anharmonicity and size effect are indispensable for discovering novel functional materials in thermal applications. In this study, monolayer holey graphyne (HGY) and boron nitride holey graphyne (BN-HGY) were examined for their phonon thermal transport properties through first-principles calculation and phonon Boltzmann function. HGY exhibits an intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity (κ) of 38.01 W/mK at room temperature, which exceeds BN-HGY’s 24.30 W/mK but is much lower than 3550 W/mK for BTE graphene. The phonon–phonon scattering behavior of BN-HGY is obviously increased compared to HGY due to the enhancement of anharmonicity, which leads to a shorter phonon lifetime and lower κ. Additionally, at room temperature, the representative mean free path (rMFP) of BN-HGY is substantially higher than that of HGY, and the κ of BN-HGY decreases faster at a larger rMFP (within a unit nm). This work will be constructive to further the application of HGY and BN-HGY as thermal management materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Boron-Based Low-Dimensional Nanoclusters and Nanomaterials)
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13 pages, 4020 KiB  
Article
Investigation on the Electron Emission Regularity of Sputtered Boron Nitride Thin Films and Microstructured Array Surfaces
by Yuqing Gu, Juannan Li and Dan Wang
Inorganics 2025, 13(4), 102; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics13040102 - 26 Mar 2025
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Abstract
Boron nitride (BN) ceramic is an important support material in aerospace, arc discharge devices, and vacuum electronics. The electron emission properties of BN surfaces are of significance among various space applications. In this work, by preparing BN thin films and microstructured BN bulks, [...] Read more.
Boron nitride (BN) ceramic is an important support material in aerospace, arc discharge devices, and vacuum electronics. The electron emission properties of BN surfaces are of significance among various space applications. In this work, by preparing BN thin films and microstructured BN bulks, we have investigated the influence of the surface physical properties on the electron emission coefficient (EEC). The results showed that the surfaces of BN films, which were prepared by magnetron sputtering, produced serious gas adsorption and organic contamination when they were left for 10 days, and these surface modifications made the EEC of BN film surface decrease to a certain extent. The argon ion cleaning experiments indicated that the process of ion cleaning was able to partly eliminate the surface adsorption and contamination for the BN film. The EEC of the cleaned BN film surface was significantly improved compared to that of the original polluted BN film surface, with an EEC peak value of about 3.2 instead of 3.0 for the original polluted surfaces. By contrast, the EEC curves of the BN bulk show some difference, with the peak values of the EEC curves being 2.62 for the untreated BN bulk. The results of laser etching on the BN bulk surface to form microarray structures show that the EEC of BN bulk decreases significantly with the increase of the average aspect ratio of the microstructures. The EEC peak values of the BN bulks decrease from 2.62 to 1.16 when the porosity of the BN bulk reaches 49.11% and the aspect ratio reaches 1.36, indicating that constructing a surface microstructure is an effective method to achieve EEC reduction. By employing the electron trajectory tracking algorithm and the phenomenological model of electron emission, the effect of microstructure on EEC for BN bulk was quantitatively explained. The results of the study are of engineering application significance for vacuum devices involving the electron emission process of BN ceramic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Boron-Based Low-Dimensional Nanoclusters and Nanomaterials)
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