Dwindling the re-stacking by simultaneous exfoliation of boron nitride and decoration of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles using a solvothermal route

Abstract

Recently, considerable attention has been paid to the exfoliation of 2D inorganic layered materials as their physicochemical properties are significantly different from the bulk. However, the exfoliated 2D nanosheets readily undergo restacking and form a bulk-like structure due to van der Waals forces. Therefore, functionalization or decoration with foreign materials on the 2D nanosheets has been suggested to prevent the extent of restacking and tune their band gaps for emerging applications. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate the decoration of cube-shaped α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles on exfoliated h-BN nanosheets using a solvothermal method. Remarkably, the growth of the α-Fe₂O₃ particles was suppressed by the h-BN nanosheets, which resulted in the formation of a controlled size of the α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles over the exfoliated BN nanosheets. However, an increased lateral size was observed in the bare α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticle synthesis. Then, the synergistic interaction between the α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles and the exfoliated BN nanosheets was identified by FT-IR analysis. XRD and Raman analysis further confirms the in situ formation of the phase pure α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles on the exfoliated BN nanosheets. The distribution of cube-shaped α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles over exfoliated BN nanosheets was characterized by SEM and HR-TEM analysis.