title: Aqueous compatible boron nitride nanosheets for high-performance hydrogels.
abstract: Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) possess ultimate thermal and chemical stabilities and mechanical strengths. However, the unmodified BNNSs are hydrophobic and insoluble in water, which hinders their use in many technological areas requiring aqueous compatibility. In this work, h-BN was treated with molten citric acid to produce aqueous dispersible boron nitride sheets (ca-BNNSs). The resultant ca-BNNSs were used to fabricate ca-BNNS/polyacrylamide (i.e., BNNS2.5/PAAm) nanocomposite hydrogels, targeting high water retentivity and flexibility. The BNNS2.5/PAAm hydrogel (initially swollen in water) largely remained swollen (water content ∼94 wt%) even after one-year storage under ambient conditions. Importantly, the swollen BNNS2.5/PAAm hydrogel (water content ∼95 wt%) was highly flexible. Its elongation and compressive strength exceeded 10,000% and 8 MPa at 97% strain, respectively. Moreover, the aforementioned hydrogel recovered upon the removal of compression force, without obvious damage. The substantially improved water retentivity and flexibility revealed that BNNSs can serve as a promising new platform in the development of high-performance hydrogels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaozhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioprocess, School of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiahui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qiuju
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Laboratory for Emerging Materials and Technology, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, USA.
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jijie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Key Laboratory for Preparation and Application of Ordered Structural Materials of Guangdong Province, Shantou University, Guangdong 515063, P. R. China. fslu@stu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fushen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu