In-situ growth of amorphous carbon on sucrose-assisted exfoliated boron nitride nanosheets: Exceptional water dispersibility and lubrication performance

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is considered to highlight great potential in achieving low friction and wear due to high thermal conductivity, superb oxidation resistance and chemical stability. Herein, a sucrose-assisted ball milling method for exfoliating and functionalizing h-BN is proposed, and then amorphous carbon wrapped boron nitride nanosheets ([email protected]) are obtained by hydrothermal carbonization. Tribological test results showed that after adding [email protected] in water, the friction coefficient and wear track width were reduced to 0.09 and 65 µm, respectively. The excellent tribological properties are attributed to the transition from amorphous carbon to ordered graphite structure. Therefore, this study paves the way for green preparation of few-layer BNNSs, and [email protected] shows great potential to become a promising lubricant additive.