Synthesis of multilayered hexagonal boron nitride microcrystals as a potential hydrogen storage element

Top-down approach has been used to synthesize pure, highly crystalline, multilayered micron size crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (BNMCs) at the top of Silicon substrate at 800 degrees C by using bulk boron nitride powder as a precursor. The synthesized crystals have different interlayers spacing from left to right (0.33 nm, 0.37 nm and 0.35 nm) and at the center (similar to 0.24 nm). The former spacing corresponds to d((002)) spacing whereas the later corresponds to d((010)) spacing in h-BN. The sharpness of the peaks in XRD, Raman and FTIR spectrums correspond to highly crystalline nature of BNMCs whereas the locations of the peaks verify the h-BN nature of BNMCs. The B-N bonded BNMCs with larger surface area can be an excellent choice as a hydrogen storage element.