Issue 12, 2024

Halide-free synthesis of metastable graphitic BC3

Abstract

Layered BC3, a metastable phase within the binary boron–carbon system that is composed of graphite-like sheets with hexagonally symmetric C6B6 units, has never been successfully crystallized. Instead, poorly-crystalline BC3-like materials with significant stacking disorder have been isolated, based on the co-pyrolysis of a boron trihalide precursor with benzene at around 800 °C. The halide leaving group (–X) is a significant driving force of these reactions, but the subsequent evolution of gaseous HX species at such high temperatures hampers their scaling up and also prohibits their further use in the presence of hard-casting templates such as ordered silicates. Herein, we report a novel halide-free synthesis route to turbostratic BC3 with long-range in-plane ordering, as evidenced by multi-wavelength Raman spectroscopy. Judicious pairing of the two molecular precursors is crucial to achieving B–C bond formation and preventing phase-segregation into the thermodynamically favored products. A simple computational method used herein to evaluate the compatibility of bottom-up molecular precursors can be generalized to guide the future synthesis of other metastable materials beyond the boron–carbon system.

Graphical abstract: Halide-free synthesis of metastable graphitic BC3

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Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
20 Dec 2023
Accepted
15 Feb 2024
First published
15 Feb 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 4358-4363

Halide-free synthesis of metastable graphitic BC3

D. McGlamery, C. McDaniel, D. M. Ladd, Y. Ha, M. A. Mosquera, M. T. Mock and N. P. Stadie, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 4358 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC06837D

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