Borophene stands out uniquely among Xenes with its metallic character, Dirac nature, exceptional electron mobility, thermal conductivity, and Young’s moduli—surpassing graphene. Invented in 2015, various methods, including atomic layer deposition, molecular beam epitaxy, and chemical vapor deposition, have successfully been demonstrated to realize substrate-supported crystal growth. Top-down approaches like micromechanical, sonochemical, solvothermal and modified hummer’s techniques have also been employed. Thanks to its high electronic mobility, borophene serves as an active material for ultrafast sensing of light, gases, molecules, and strain. Its metallic behaviour, electrochemical activity, and anti-corrosive nature make it ideal for applications in energy storage and catalysis. It has been proven effective as an electrocatalyst for HER, OER, water splitting, CO2 reduction, and NH3 reduction reactions. Beyond this, borophene has found utility in bioimaging, biosensing, and various biomedical applications. A special emphasis will be given on the borophene nanoarchitectonics i.e. doped borophene and borophene-based hybrids with other 2D materials and nanoparticles and the theoretical understanding of these emerging materials systems to gain more insights on their electronic structure and properties, aiming to manipulate borophene for tailored applications.
Researchers are delving into borophene, a highly promising material among the Xenes family, which includes graphene. Borophene was first created in 2015 and boasts remarkable properties, such as high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength, outperforming even graphene in some areas.
Here's a simplified summary:
The focus is on creating doped borophene and hybrids with other 2D materials to better understand and enhance its properties for specific applications.
Monolayer borophene has a high charge capacity, mechanical strength, and low diffusion barrier, but it's not stable enough for practical use