Effect of Boron Doping on the Interlayer Spacing of Graphite
Chenguang Bao,
Qing Zeng,
Fujin Li,
Lei Shi,
Wei Wu,
Li Yang,
Yuxi Chen,
Hongbo Liu
Affiliations
Chenguang Bao
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Qing Zeng
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials Genome Engineering, School of Physics and Electronic Sciences, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Fujin Li
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China
Lei Shi
Hunan Zhongke Shinzoom Co., Ltd., Changsha 410118, China
Wei Wu
Hunan Zhongke Shinzoom Co., Ltd., Changsha 410118, China
Li Yang
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Yuxi Chen
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Hongbo Liu
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Boron-doped graphite was prepared by the heat treatment of coke using B4C powder as a graphitization catalyst to investigate the effects of the substitutional boron atoms on the interlayer spacing of graphite. Boron atoms can be successfully incorporated into the lattice of graphite by heat treatment, resulting in a reduction in the interlayer spacing of graphite to a value close to that of ideal graphite (0.3354 nm). With an increase in the catalyst mass ratio, the content of substituted boron in the samples increased significantly, causing a decrease in the interlayer spacing of the boron-doped graphite. Density functional theory calculations suggested that the effects of the substitutional boron atoms on the interlayer spacing of the graphite may be attributed to the transfer of Π electrons between layers, the increase in the electrostatic surface potential of the carbon layer due to the electron-deficient nature of boron atoms, and Poisson contraction along the c-axis.
