Exfoliation of hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets in low-modulus concentrated alkali silicate pastes

We herein demonstrated the exfoliation of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) into nanosheets (BNNSs) by using concentrated low-modulus water glass (WG, SiO2/Na2O ratio = 1.6) as high viscosity exfoliating medium. The process led to BNNSs yield of nearly 30%. As the sheared suspension was neutralized with HCl, BNNSs with lateral size of approximately 250 nm and narrow size distribution, were found to align into perfectly parallel rows....