Ionothermal Synthesis of Turbostratic Boron Nitride Nanoflakes at Low Temperature

Turbostratic Boron Nitride (t-BN) nanoflakes have been successfully synthesized via an ionothermal synthetic method under mild condition using a boron-containing ionic liquid 1-butyl-2, 3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bdmim][BF 4 ]) as multifunctional material in terms of boron precursor, solvent, and template. The sample is characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the results indicate that the as-prepared sample is t-BN nanoflake. In addition, the ultraviolet−visible (UV−vis) spectrum reveals that the as-prepared t-BN has an obvious band gap (6.0 eV). The hydrogen bond- co-π−π stack mechanism is used to be responsible for the present formation of the t-BN nanoflakes.