Ultrahigh resistance of hexagonal boron nitride to mineral scale formation

Kuichang Zuo, Xiang Zhang, Xiaochuan Huang, Eliezer F. Oliveira, Hua Guo, Tianshu Zhai, Weipeng Wang (), Pedro J. J. Alvarez, Menachem Elimelech, Pulickel M. Ajayan (), Jun Lou () and Qilin Li ()
Additional contact information
Kuichang Zuo: Peking University
Xiang Zhang: Rice University
Xiaochuan Huang: Rice University
Eliezer F. Oliveira: Rice University
Hua Guo: Rice University
Tianshu Zhai: Rice University
Weipeng Wang: Tsinghua University
Pedro J. J. Alvarez: Rice University
Menachem Elimelech: Rice University
Pulickel M. Ajayan: Rice University
Jun Lou: Rice University
Qilin Li: Rice University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Formation of mineral scale on a material surface has profound impact on a wide range of natural processes as well as industrial applications. However, how specific material surface characteristics affect the mineral-surface interactions and subsequent mineral scale formation is not well understood. Here we report the superior resistance of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) to mineral scale formation compared to not only common metal and polymer surfaces but also the highly scaling-resistant graphene, making hBN possibly the most scaling resistant material reported to date. Experimental and simulation results reveal that this ultrahigh scaling-resistance is attributed to the combination of hBN’s atomically-smooth surface, in-plane atomic energy corrugation due to the polar boron-nitrogen bond, and the close match between its interatomic spacing and the size of water molecules. The latter two properties lead to strong polar interactions with water and hence the formation of a dense hydration layer, which strongly hinders the approach of mineral ions and crystals, decreasing both surface heterogeneous nucleation and crystal attachment.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32193-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32193-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32193-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().