Thionyl Chloride Corrodes Hexagonal Boron Nitride to Generate Reactive Functional Groups

Two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has received much attention owing to its unique properties and wide range of applications. However, the lack of sufficient active functional groups on the surface coupled with the extremely stable structure restricts the wide application of h-BN. We find that thionyl chloride can corrode commercially available h-BN and generate many through-holes in the thickness direction. Both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) show that the corroded h-BN contains reactive hydroxyl and a lot of amino groups. The corrosion mechanism is proposed and we conclude that H⁺ and OH^- will affect the defect structure of the corroded h-BN by affecting the generation of boric acid. The thionyl chloride corroded h-BN could improve the thermal conductivity and DC breakdown strength of the composites because of the improved interface. This novel method about corroding h-BN through thionyl chloride is promising for the modification research of h-BN due to its simplicity and efficiency.