Isolating hydrogen in hexagonal boron nitride bubbles by a plasma treatment

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that plasma treatment can isolate atomic hydrogen in hexagonal boron nitride bubbles, leveraging their unique porous structure for potential applications in hydrogen storage and nano-electromechanical systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel plasma treatment method to isolate hydrogen in h-BN bubbles, revealing their porous stacking structure and hydrogen permeability properties.

Findings

Hydrogen can be isolated in h-BN bubbles via plasma treatment.

h-BN bubbles withstand high-temperature air treatment up to 800°C.

Porous stacking structure enables atomic hydrogen permeability.

Abstract

Atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is often regarded as an elastic film that is impermeable to gases. The high stabilities in thermal and chemical properties allow h-BN to serve as a gas barrier under extreme conditions.In this work, we demonstrate the isolation of hydrogen in bubbles of h-BN via plasma treatment.Detailed characterizations reveal that the substrates do not show chemical change after treatment. The bubbles are found to withstand thermal treatment in air,even at 800 degree celsius. Scanning transmission electron microscopy investigation shows that the h-BN multilayer has a unique aligned porous stacking nature, which is essential for the character of being transparent to atomic hydrogen but impermeable to hydrogen molecules. We successfully demonstrated the extraction of hydrogen gases from gaseous compounds or mixtures containing hydrogen element. The successful production of hydrogen bubbles on h-BN flakes has potential for further application in nano/micro-electromechanical systems and hydrogen storage.