Meet MILFRED! Day one on the job and I was introduced to this amazing machine. Although a simple concept, ball milling has the potential to be extremely significant in the field of nanotechnology.
Down in material sciences, we are using the ball milling process to break apart weak bonds attaching layers of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and then attaching other functional groups. This means we can give hBN whatever desired properties certain companies are requesting.
These particles of hBN are captured by filtering out of solution using the following set-up.
Currently my project is to attach dimethyl acetamide to hBN with the hope of creating hydrophobic hBN.
Stay tuned for more exciting news from MATERIAL SCIENCES!!
Hey Rebecca!
All of this sounds super cool! I have never heard of this before and the chemistry behind it must be pretty intricate.
What is the purpose of attaching hBN to other functional groups? I am not familiar with this, so I would like to know more information on why this is occurring. Will there be better functional groups/products through this or does it react better..? I look forward to seeing your lab!
So, the ball milling machine mechanically exfoliates the hBN. This breaks the van der Waals bonds holding it into a 3-d form so that it can become 2-d nanosheets. This creates a larger surface area to work with and also changes the properties of the nanoparticles. Because of the increased surface area and available bonds it can react and attach to other chemicals (functional groups) that you add. The lab here is currently testing the addition of different types of chemicals and how that changes the functionality of the hBN. Also companies are asking them for certain products. One of the products desired by a company was a hydrophobic form of hBN. My mentor proposed that he could get this form by adding dimethyl acetamide during the ball milling process. We shall see if this works out!
A hydrophobic form of hBN. He wants a product that does not love water. I wonder what are ways this product can be used? Sounds like you are having fun breaking and building bonds. 🙂
Yeah why? Does is stop fouling and scaling? In my lab we are trying to increase hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties using different functional groups to decrease crystallization
This depends on what purpose the company has for the product and also the degree of hydrophobicity. My mentor mentioned this company using the product for oil dispersion. Hydrophobic coatings could also be used on the hull of ships to prevent unwanted growth of microorganisms, increase ship speed and reduce fuel cost for example. There could also be applications in the medical industry. The added benefits of engineering this using hBN is the increased resistance to corrosion and oxidation and the high thermal stability.
I wish I could “love” this!! That’s waaaayyy too cool & extremely applicable in today’s world!