TY - JOUR
T1 - Surfactant-Assisted Restructuring of Boron to Borophene
T2 - Implications for Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution
AU - Radhakrishnan, Sithara
AU - Padmanabhan, Nisha T.
AU - Mathews, Ann Jini
AU - Tang, Youhong
AU - Santhanakrishnan, T.
AU - John, Honey
PY - 2024/6/14
Y1 - 2024/6/14
N2 - Borophene 2D nanosheets of boron and the evolving group III trans-graphene are a potential material for a plethora of applications; however, they have not been well explored due to the ambiguity in their electronic configuration and consequent polymorphism. Here, we introduced liquid-phase treatments utilizing surfactants exfoliating boron to 2D borophene. Poly(ethelyene glycol) (PEG) polymeric chains with neutral characteristics simultaneously with surfactants of cationic and anionic characteristics, respectively, as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were utilized to constructively engineer a β rhombohedral crystal structure in borophene layers. These engineered borophene layers, on further analyzing their electrochemical performance by hydrogen evolution reactions, showed a heightened efficacy for borophene sheets synthesized in the presence of PEG, characterized by a Tafel slope of 178 mV/dec in a 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. This enhanced performance was intricately linked to the elevated quality of the borophene sheets during PEG-assisted liquid-phase treatment and to the increased accessibility of active sites characterized by the β rhombohedral crystal lattices engineered by PEG polymeric chains.
AB - Borophene 2D nanosheets of boron and the evolving group III trans-graphene are a potential material for a plethora of applications; however, they have not been well explored due to the ambiguity in their electronic configuration and consequent polymorphism. Here, we introduced liquid-phase treatments utilizing surfactants exfoliating boron to 2D borophene. Poly(ethelyene glycol) (PEG) polymeric chains with neutral characteristics simultaneously with surfactants of cationic and anionic characteristics, respectively, as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were utilized to constructively engineer a β rhombohedral crystal structure in borophene layers. These engineered borophene layers, on further analyzing their electrochemical performance by hydrogen evolution reactions, showed a heightened efficacy for borophene sheets synthesized in the presence of PEG, characterized by a Tafel slope of 178 mV/dec in a 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. This enhanced performance was intricately linked to the elevated quality of the borophene sheets during PEG-assisted liquid-phase treatment and to the increased accessibility of active sites characterized by the β rhombohedral crystal lattices engineered by PEG polymeric chains.
KW - borophene
KW - electrocatalysts
KW - HER
KW - surfactants
KW - β rhombohedral
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195040463&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsanm.4c01017
DO - 10.1021/acsanm.4c01017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85195040463
SN - 2574-0970
VL - 7
SP - 12564
EP - 12578
JO - ACS Applied Nano Materials
JF - ACS Applied Nano Materials
IS - 11
ER -
