Welcome
Our Research in animation
Welcome to Boron Rich Nanostructures (BoRN) Research Group. We work on the interfacial science of nanosheets: a fast emerging family of nanomaterials. We have developed a new class of nanosheets that are rich in boron, an element that has always sought immense interest from the scientific community. These nano structures exhibit a characteristic quasi-2D morphology with high lateral dimensions (~microns) and nanoscale thickness (<10 nm). This planar geometry renders nanosheets properties at the extremes of all known materials and provide platforms to utilize the rich chemistry of boron. 2D Boron is gradually gaining significant attention after the experimental realisation of borophene followed by the theoretical predictions. Our research involves the fundamental studies on metal boride derived nanosheets as well as the practical applications in which these can be utilised.
This animated video explains in a simplified manner the different facets of our research work on boron nanosheets
OUR LATEST RESEARCH
GALLERY
Our recently published study in Nanoscale shows that 2D boron sheets with hydride groups can serve as reducing agents. We show that these nanosheets can reduce gold salt into ultra-small gold nanoparticles and graphene oxide into reduced graphene oxide to form a borophene-graphene alliance.
Ph.D. student Asha received the Best Poster Award at the International Conference on Soft Materials in 2014
Our recent work on controlled chemical exfoliation of layered borides that results in accordion shaped nanostructures got published in ACS Applied Nanomaterials. This is the first report which shows that metal boride derived nanostructures can be used as flame retardant fillers.
We have developed a simple way to synthesize boron-rich nanostructures analogous to graphene by utilizing the dissolution and recrystallization of layered metal boride crystals in water.
FUNDING
Seed Funding
IIT Gandhinagar
INSPIRE Faculty
Award, Department
of Science & Technology, Govt. of India
