| Title | Ultrahigh resistance of hexagonal boron nitride to mineral scale formation |
| Authors | Zuo, Kuichang Zhang, Xiang Huang, Xiaochuan Oliveira, Eliezer F. Guo, Hua Zhai, Tianshu Wang, Weipeng Alvarez, Pedro J. J. Elimelech, Menachem Ajayan, Pulickel M. Lou, Jun Li, Qilin |
| Affiliation | Peking Univ, Key Lab Water & Sediment Sci, Minist Educ, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China Peking Univ, Coll Environm Sci & Engn, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China Rice Univ, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, MS 519,6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA Rice Univ, NSF Nanosyst Engn Res Ctr Notechnol Enabled Water, MS 6398,6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA Rice Univ, Dept Mat Sci & NanoEngn, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA Sao Paulo State Dept Educ, Sao Paulo, Brazil Tsinghua Univ, Sch Mat Sci & Engn, Key Lab Adv Mat MOE, Beijing 100084, Peoples R China Yale Univ, Dept Chem & Environm Engn, New Haven, CT 06520 USA Rice Univ, Dept Chem, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA Rice Univ, Dept Chem & Biomol Engn, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005 USA |
| Keywords | REVERSE-OSMOSIS MEMBRANES PROTON TRANSPORT GRAPHENE WATER FRICTION PERMEATION NUCLEATION INTERFACE SLIPPAGE CONTACT |
| Issue Date | 4-Aug-2022 |
| Publisher | NATURE COMMUNICATIONS |
| 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. Scale formation may have detrimental effects on the properties and functions of materials' surfaces. Here the authors report the high scaling resistance of hexagonal boron nitride and relate it to the atomic level structure and interaction with water molecules. |
| URI | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/650170 |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41467-022-32193-4 |
| Indexed | SCI(E) |
| Appears in Collections: | 水沙科学教育部重点实验室（联合） 环境科学与工程学院 |
