title: Cheap, gram-scale fabrication of BN nanosheets via substitution reaction of graphite powders and their use for mechanical reinforcement of polymers.
abstract: As one of the most important two-dimensional (2D) materials, BN nanosheets attracted intensive interest in the past decade. Although there are many methods suitable for the preparation of BN sheets, finding a cheap and nontoxic way for their mass and high-quality production is still a challenge. Here we provide a highly effective and cheap way to synthesize gram-scale-level well-structured BN nanosheets from many common graphite products as source materials. Single-crystalline multi-layered BN sheets have a mean lateral size of several hundred nanometers and a thickness ranging from 5 nm to 40 nm. Cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis shows that the structures exhibit a near band-edge emission and a broad emission band from 300 nm to 500 nm. Utilization of nanosheets for the reinforcement of polymers revealed that the Young's modulus of BN/PMMA composite had increased to 1.56 GPa when the BN's fraction was only 2 wt.%, thus demonstrating a 20% gain compared to a blank PMMA film. It suggests that the BN nanosheet is an ideal mechanical reinforcing material for polymers. In addition, this easy and nontoxic substitution method may provide a universal route towards high yields of other 2D materials.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China) [2] Inorganic Nanostructured Materials Group, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Xiaoshu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Tongyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Nanostructured Materials Group, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Xuebin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Nano-Electronics Materials Unit, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Shaozhi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, and School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (PR China).
authors.forename: Ningsheng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Nano-Electronics Materials Unit, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
authors.affiliation: Nanotube Group, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Dmitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Golberg
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Nanostructured Materials Group, World Premier International (WPI) Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan 305-0044.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bando