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Research Article

Rapid, high-efficient and scalable exfoliation of high-quality boron nitride nanosheets and their application in lithium-sulfur batteries

Yu Chen§, Qi Kang§, Pingkai Jiang, Xingyi Huang( )
Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

§ Yu Chen and Qi Kang contributed equally to this work.

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Abstract

Boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) have gained significant attraction in energy and environment fields because of their two-dimensional (2D) nature, large band gap and high thermal/mechanical performance. However, the current low production efficiency of high-quality BNNSs is still a bottleneck limiting their applications. Herein, based on sonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation, we demonstrated a rapid, high-efficient and scalable production strategy of BNNSs and documented the effects of a spectrum of exfoliation factors (e.g., ultrasonic condition, solvent and bulk material feeding) on the yield of BNNSs. A record of yield of 72.5% was achieved while the exfoliated BNNSs have few-layer and defect-free feature. Thanks to the Lewis acid sites of the boron atoms, the BNNSs can interact with the polysulfide anions in liquid electrolyte and also can facilitate the uniform lithium deposition, which finally endow a lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery with long life. This work provides a facile and rapid strategy for large scale preparation of high-quality BNNSs, also contributes a long-life strategy for dendrite-free Li-S battery, opens new avenues of BNNSs in energy application.

Keywords

boron nitride nanosheetscavitationsonication-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation (SALPE)modified separatorslithium-sulfur batteries

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Nano Research
Volume 14 Issue 7,
July 2021
Pages 2424-2431
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-020-3245-3
Cite this article:
Chen Y, Kang Q, Jiang P, et al. Rapid, high-efficient and scalable exfoliation of high-quality boron nitride nanosheets and their application in lithium-sulfur batteries. Nano Research, 2021, 14(7): 2424-2431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3245-3
Topics:
Boron nitrideElectrolytesEnergy gapIIILithium batteriesLithium compoundsNanosheetsNitridesV semiconductors

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Received: 25 October 2020
Revised: 12 November 2020
Accepted: 14 November 2020
Published: 05 July 2021
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
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