Borophene: Synthesis, Chemistry, and Electronic Properties.

As a neighbor of carbon in the periodic table, boron exhibits versatile structural and electronic configurations, with its allotropes predicted to possess intriguing structures and properties. Since the experimental realization of two-dimensional (2D) boron sheets (borophene) on Ag(111) substrates in 2015, the experimental study of the realization and characteristics of borophene has drawn increasing interest. In this review, we summarize the synthesis and properties of borophene, which are mainly based on experimental results.

Roles of aqueous nonsolvents influencing the dynamic stability of poly-(-butyl methacrylate) thin films at biologically relevant temperatures.

Poly-(-butyl methacrylate) (PnBMA) is an important polymer in biomedical applications. Here we study the stability of PnBMA thin films prepared on top of slippery silicon substrates and exposed to nonsolvent aqueous incubation media like water and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at temperatures relevant to biological applications (37 °C, 25 °C and 4 °C). Dewetting hole growth experiments allowed us to probe the instability in PnBMA films upon incubation followed by thermal annealing.