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| Boron nitride | |
|---|---|
| Name | Boron nitride |
| Othernames | BN |
| Formula | BN |
| Category | Inorganic compound |
Boron nitride is an inorganic compound composed of boron and nitrogen that manifests in multiple crystalline and amorphous forms with diverse physical and chemical behaviors. It is valued for hardness, thermal conductivity, electrical insulation, and chemical inertness, leading to applications across Samsung Electronics, Boeing, NASA, Siemens, and Intel supply chains. Industrial development has involved collaborations among BASF, Dow Chemical Company, 3M Company, DuPont, and academic laboratories at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and Max Planck Society.
Boron nitride appears as a family of materials sharing the stoichiometry BN, notable in crystalline forms analogous to graphite (crystalline), diamond (mineral), and layered structures akin to molybdenum disulfide. The compound was investigated historically by researchers at institutions including Imperial College London, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, and Tokyo University during the 20th century, influencing industries such as Aerospace industry suppliers like Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin. Commercialization and standardization efforts involved ISO committees and testing organizations like ASTM International and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Crystalline polymorphs of BN include hexagonal, cubic, and wurtzite lattices analogous to graphite (crystalline), diamond (min mineral), and wurtzite (mineral), with bonding motifs studied at CERN and characterized using techniques developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Properties such as high thermal conductivity, wide band gap, and chemical inertness are measured using instrumentation from Thermo Fisher Scientific and interpreted in theoretical frameworks from researchers at Princeton University and California Institute of Technology. Mechanical hardness rivals that of diamond (mineral) in cubic BN, while hexagonal BN provides lubricity similar to layered materials used by Toyota and General Motors in manufacturing. Optical and electronic properties have been examined in collaborations with IBM and Microsoft Research for potential uses in photonics and microelectronics.
Industrial and laboratory synthesis routes include high-temperature reactions, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) methods developed in part at Bell Labs, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Hitachi. Precursors such as borazine and boron hydrides were investigated by groups at University of California, Berkeley and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, while scalable CVD routes were advanced by teams at Toshiba and Samsung Electronics. Production for refractory and abrasive markets is conducted by companies like Saint-Gobain, Morgan Advanced Materials, and Kennametal using purification and sintering equipment supplied by Fives Group and Danieli. Research-scale synthesis employs facilities at Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Well-known allotropes include hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), cubic boron nitride (c-BN), wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN), turbostratic BN, amorphous BN, and two-dimensional forms analogous to graphene (material) explored at University of Manchester. Single-layer BN and few-layer BN have been produced by groups at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego, while nanoporous and nanotube morphologies were synthesized by researchers at Rice University and Northwestern University. Composite and doped variants investigated at ETH Zurich and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne aim to tune electronic and mechanical behavior for collaborations with industry partners like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Boron nitride is used in high-temperature crucibles and refractory components by companies such as Alcoa and GrafTech International, while c-BN abrasives compete with diamond (mineral) products for cutting tools marketed by Sandvik and Carbide. h-BN serves as a solid lubricant in Rolls-Royce turbine systems and as an electrical insulator in power electronics developed by GE Renewable Energy and Siemens Energy. Two-dimensional BN is applied as a dielectric substrate in heterostructures alongside graphene (material) and transition metal dichalcogenides in projects at Samsung Research and Huawei Technologies. Medical and cosmetics firms like L'Oréal and Johnson & Johnson have explored BN powders for thermal and tactile properties, while semiconductor fabrication facilities at TSMC and GlobalFoundries investigate BN for thermal interface materials.
Handling recommendations and occupational exposure limits are guided by standards from Occupational Safety and Health Administration and European Chemicals Agency, with material safety data sheets provided by manufacturers such as Boron Specialties Inc. and Saint-Gobain. Laboratory-scale risks related to fine particulates are managed following protocols from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization, and industrial hygiene monitoring is supported by companies like 3M Company and Honeywell International.
Active research areas include electronic heterostructures with graphene (material) and MoS2 (material) pursued at Columbia University, University of Cambridge, and National University of Singapore; high-pressure synthesis explored at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Max Planck Institute; and thermal management solutions for electronics by teams at Intel and NVIDIA. Emerging topics involve isotope engineering, defect control for quantum emitters studied at University of Waterloo and University of Tokyo, and integration into additive manufacturing workflows developed by GE Additive and EOS GmbH. The convergence of academic research from Harvard University and industrial initiatives at Apple Inc. and Microsoft suggests expanding roles for BN in next-generation devices.
Category:Boron compounds