Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2015
We have demonstrated the synthesis of highly reactive boron nanomaterials by alkali metal reduction of BCl3 under sonication, followed by annealing. Unlike ordinary boron powders, these materials combust completely and release close to their theoretical energy content (based on elemental analysis) in polymer protected bomb calorimetry experiments. We have scaled up the synthesis using a commercial (Columbia International CIT-UHiPR-U1000V600) ultrasonic hi-pressure reactor. The synthesis reactions exhibit a scale problem, where they yield diminishes considerably on scale up, probably a result of alkali metals becoming trapped inside a mass of salts and rendered unable to react. We measured the combustion properties of the materials by bomb calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis/differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC), and report elemental analyses on selected samples.