Hexagonal Boron Nitride Meeting Metal: A New Opportunity and Territory in Heterogeneous Catalysis

Two dimensional (2D) hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been ignored for a long time in catalysis research because of its chemical inertness. Recently there has been a significant advance highlighting the role of metal/h-BN interfaces in catalytic applications. In this Perspective, we summarize state-of-the-art progress regarding h-BN-involved metal catalysts. Vacancy- and defect-rich h-BN sheets are able to anchor and modify supported metals, in which the interfacial metal-support interaction effect helps to enhance catalytic performance. Oxidative etching of h-BN sheets causes encapsulation of metal catalysts via boron oxide (BO) species, which work synergistically with neighboring metal sites in catalysis. Covering a metal surface with ultrathin h-BN shells creates a 2D nanoreactor featuring confinement effect, providing a novel way to modulate metal-catalyzed reactions. Given all those fascinating combinations of metal catalyst and h-BN, the emerging opportunity when h-BN meets metal in heterogeneous catalysis is clearly underlined. The outlook, especially the challenges in the field, are discussed as well.