Pressure‐Assisted Dimensional Transformation of 2D Hydrogenated Borophene into 0D Boron Quantum Dots
ABSTRACT Borophene is a monoelemental two‐dimensional (2D) material whose electron‐deficient bonding renders free‐standing monolayers intrinsically unstable, raising the question of how borophene can be converted into stable boron nanostructures. Borophene's structural stability and electronic properties are strongly influenced by vacancy configurations and defect engineering, while hydrogenation offers an additional pathway for stabilization and property tuning. Here, we introduce a solvent‐free solid‐state route that transforms hydrogenated borophene (HB) into either B 2 O 3 nanoplatelets or boron quantum dots (BQDs) via thermal dehydrogenation. Cleavage of B─H bonds releases hydrogen gas, whose escape under flowing N 2 facilitates structural reconstruction and leads to the formation of B 2 O 3 nanoplatelets. In sealed conditions, hydrogen accumulation generates internal pressure that drives fragmentation of the boron framework into BQDs. The resulting materials exhibit distinct photoluminescence (PL) behavior that correlates with their structural evolution, in agreement with first‐principles calculations of band‐gap changes. This work establishes solvent‐free, pressure‐assisted dimensional engineering of boron nanostructures and provides a new strategy for controlling the structural and optoelectronic properties of boron‐based materials.
Authors
- Wan‐Lu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0098-0670)
- Koray Aydın (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3268-2216)
- Martina Mercurio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5454-6525)
- Ilaria Fratoddi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5172-0636)
- Umut Aydemir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1164-1973)
- Paul Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1115-4024)
- Maria Cristina Larciprete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7876-628X)
- Pouriya Naziri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3090-9103)
- Ramin Yazdaanpanah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5238-346X)
- Sachin Prashant Kulkarni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3740-3527)
- Ozden Gunes Yildiz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8061-4613)
- Yongfeng Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1091-0328)
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Koç University (TR)
- University of California System (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2026-09-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.78031
- Primary Topic
- Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- San Diego Supercomputer Center
- European Commission
- Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu
- Office of Science
- University of California, San Diego
- Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Argonne National Laboratory