Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride and Borophenes

Hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) is one of the promising 2D materials with excellent mechanical properties, good thermal conductivity and excellent chemical as well as thermal stability. These properties of h‐BN are very much useful for various high temperature applications such as insulators for furnaces, crucibles for melting glass and metals, deep ultraviolet light sources, insulating and thermally conductive fillers, dielectric layers, cosmetic products, anti‐oxidation lubricants, and protective coatings. In this chapter, different properties and synthesis methods of 2D h‐BN are discussed. The synthesis methods are basically divided as bottom up and top down approaches that are similar to the well‐known graphene sheet growing methods, with required changes in input materials and processing parameters. Most common synthesis methods include mechanical exfoliation, liquid exfoliation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD). Also, theoretical investigation and experimental synthesis of newly developed material, borophene, is discussed in detail. Its outstanding properties can be very useful in electronics, optoelectronics and mechanical applications.