Synthesis of uniform plate-like boron nitride nanoparticles from boron oxide by ball milling and annealing process

•A great many elliptical plate-like and circular plate-like boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles were synthesized from boron oxide by high-energy ball milling and annealing process.•The cost of the raw material is inexpensive compared with boron or boron nitride.•The size of the BN nanoparticles is uniform and the diameter of them is about 70 nm.

A great many boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles were synthesized from boron oxide by high-energy ball milling and annealing process at 1200 °C. The sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and the X-Ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results showed that the morphology of most synthesized BN nanoparticles is elliptical plate-like, while the others are circular plate-like. The BN nanoparticles are uniform at the diameter from 20 nm to 100 nm, and most of them are around 70 nm in diameter. The thickness of them is about 10 nm estimated from SEM image.

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