Self-sacrificed template synthesis of ribbon-like hexagonal boron nitride nano-architectures and their improvement on mechanical and thermal properties of PHA polymer

Two-dimensional (2-D) boron nitride (BN) nanomaterials have received intensive attention because of their attractive mechanical, thermal and chemical stability. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the synthesis of ribbon-like hexagonal boron nitride nano-architectures (RLBN) through a simple self-sacrificed template method using the cheap boric acid and melamine as raw materials. After the freeze-drying and thermal decomposition process, uniform ultrathin RLBN with width of 200–500 nm and thick of a few nanometers can be obtained. The RLBN with high quality tremendously improves the mechanical and thermal properties of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) polymer. The decomposition temperature (Td) of PHA increases from 368 °C to 390 °C, while the thermal conductivity increases by 46.0% with RLBN doped. The ductility (strain at break), yield strength and tensile strength of PHA@RLBN composite are also enhanced by 52.3%, 49.4% and 6.01% respectively.