Boron nitride porous microbelts for hydrogen storage

Layered boron nitrides (BNs) are usually viewed as excellent protective coatings and reinforcing materials due to their chemical inertness and high mechanical strength. However, the attention paid to their potential applications in gas sorption, especially in case of hydrogen, has obviously been insufficient. Herein, a novel BN material (i.e., porous microbelts), with the highest specific surface area ever reported for any BN system, up to 1488 m ² g^-1, is obtained through one-step template-free reaction of a boron acid-melamine precursor with ammonia. Comprehensive high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman characterizations all confirm that the obtained BN phase is partially disordered, shows an enlarged average spacing between adjacent (0002) layers (d₀₀₀₂ = 0.38 nm, compared to normal 0.33 nm for a bulk layered BN), and belongs to an intermediate state between hexagonal (h-BN) and amorphous (a-BN) phases. By changing the synthesis temperatures, the textures of obtained porous microbelts are adjustable. H₂ sorption evaluations demonstrate that the materials exhibit high and reversible H₂ uptake from 1.6 to 2.3 wt % at 77 K and at a relatively low pressure of 1 MPa. © 2013 American Chemical Society.