Stable colloidal boron nitride nanosheet dispersion and its potential application in catalysis

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets, a promising layered material, have drawn more and more attention in recent years. In this study, a simple method has been developed to prepare stable colloidal h-BN nanosheet dispersion with high concentration in ethylene glycol based on the matching of the surface energies of h-BN and the surface tension of the solvent. It is found that bulk h-BN can be directly exfoliated and dispersed in ethylene glycol solvent with the assistance of sonication to form stable h-BN nanosheets with a few layers. Furthermore, the stable colloidal h-BN nanosheets have been demonstrated to be good carriers to support and disperse noble metal nanoparticles such as Ag, Au, and Pt with high catalytic activity for the reduction of p-nitrophenol. Our results suggest that stable colloidal h-BN dispersion with high concentration in ethylene glycol could open the way to a range of important applications of h-BN based materials.