Borophene, i.e. cube graphene for batteries and superconductors

There is a material that, due to its exceptional qualities, could be defined as a sort of "Graphene squared": Borophene.

Borophene is a crystalline atomic monolayer of boron, i.e. it is a two-dimensional allotrope of boron and also known as a boron sheet, i.e. a molecule consisting of a single surface plane of boron. A peculiarity is that it was first theoretically foreseen in the mid-1990s. In 2015, several experiments confirmed the existence of some compounds and opened the way to its synthesis.

Its atomic structure is made up of mixed triangular and hexagonal patterns, a structure that denotes a shortage of electrons.

The borophenes show elasticity in the plane and ideal resistance. It can be stronger than graphene and more flexible in some configurations. Boron nanotubes are also stiffer than graphene. Furthermore Hydrogen is easily absorbed to borophene, offers the potential for hydrogen storage, up to more than 15% of its weight. Furthermore, borophene can “Reduce” the water, that is, it can tear the oxygen atoms.

Borophene has the ability to be an excellent electrical conductor at room temperature as well as heat.

The polymorphism of independent borophene and that supported by a borophene metal substrate, which is completely different from that of other 2D materials, is particularly emphasized.

So what could be the uses of borophene?

• in metal ion batteries,
• in the storage of hydrogen,
• hydrogen evolution reaction,
• oxygen reduction reaction, i.e. the inversion of oxidation
• oxygen evolution reaction
• CO2 electro-reduction reaction, i.e. the possibility of breaking up carbon dioxide by accumulating carbon and releasing oxygen.

What are the most potentially important uses of borophene?

• given its ability to transform physical values ​​into others, for example pressure into electrical impulses, it can be the basis of a new and more refined generation of sensors;
• Extraordinary quality batteries a. Theoretically, a 2D layer of lithium, cathode, can be included between two layers of borophene, which acts as an anode, thus building strong but extremely thin batteries, much more than a sheet of paper. The same can theoretically be done by combining less expensive materials such as sodium and potassium. They would be highly charged batteries, but with minimal weight and without the problems of current lithium accumulators.
  

  Hypothesis of lithium layer included between two layers of borophene

Currently very few countries are able to synthesize borophene, but it is only a matter of time before other countries join, and based on this material we will not make batteries tomorrow, but maybe the day after tomorrow we will.

---

---

The article Borofene, i.e. cube graphene for batteries and superconductors, comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

---

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/borofene-cioe-il-grafene-al-cubo-per-batterie-e-superconduttori/ on Tue, 24 May 2022 20:20:29 +0000.