Abstract
Boron-based two-dimensional materials are of interest for use in electronic devices and catalytic applications, for which it is important that they are chemically stable. Here, we explore the chemical stability of hydrogen boride nanosheets in water. Experiments reveal that mixing hydrogen boride and water produces negligible amounts of hydrogen, suggesting that hydrolysis does not occur and that hydrogen boride is stable in water, which is in contrast to most boron hydride materials. First-principles calculations reveal that the sheets interact weakly with water even in the presence of defects and that negatively charged boron prevents the onset of hydrolysis. We conclude that the charge state of boron and the covalent boron-boron bond network are responsible for the chemical and structural stability. On the other hand, we found that proton exchange with hydrogen boride nanosheets does occur in water, indicating that they become acidic in the presence of water.
Highlights
Boron-based two-dimensional materials are of interest for use in electronic devices and catalytic applications, for which it is important that they are chemically stable
To clarify the chemical stability issue, we examined the reaction of HB sheets with water at room temperature (~298 K)
We found that only H2 gas was produced by mixing the HB sheets and water with an amount corresponding to a small percentage of the expected H2 yield from Eq (5)
Summary
Boron-based two-dimensional materials are of interest for use in electronic devices and catalytic applications, for which it is important that they are chemically stable. The results indicate that the charge state of B was maintained, and that the hydrolysis reaction of HB did not occur even at 393 K in water. These experimental results indicate that HB sheets are stable against hydrolysis reaction, whereas proton release can occur via the proton exchange with HB in water.
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