Progress on boron nitride nanostructure materials: properties, synthesis and applications in hydrogen storage and analytical chemistry

Recently, boron nitride nanostructures have proven to be promising materials in various applications including catalysis, optoelectronics, sensors, electronics and biomedical research areas due to their significant properties such as electrical, mechanical, optical, thermal and physico-chemical properties. In view of this, boron nitride nanostructures [hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs) boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) and boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)], properties (mechanical, photoluminescence, and biocompatibility) and synthetic routes top-down (liquid-phase exfoliation, ultrasonic-, microwave-, chemical reaction-, hydrothermal/solvothermal-, mechanical-, assisted exfoliation and ion-intercalation) and bottom-up (hydrothermal/solvothermal, microwave and chemical vapor deposition) approaches are discussed in this review. The promising applications of boron nitride nanostructures in hydrogen storage and sensing (gas, inorganic species, organic and biomolecules) are summarized. Finally, future perspectives of BN nanostructures in hydrogen storage and analytical sciences are discussed.