Defect-Regulated Frustrated-Lewis-Pair Behavior of Boron Nitride in Ambient Pressure Hydrogen Activation

Abstract

The construction of heterogeneous frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) with performance comparable to or surpassing the homogeneous counterparts in H₂ activation is a long-standing challenge. Herein, sterically hindered Lewis acid ("B" center) and Lewis base ("N" center) sites were anchored within the rigid lattice of highly crystalline hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) scaffolds. The active sites were created via precision defect regulation during the molten-salt-involved (NaNH₂ and NaBH₄) h-BN construction procedure. The as-afforded h-BN scaffolds achieved highly efficient H₂/D₂ activation and dissociation under ambient pressure via FLP-like behavior, and attractive catalytic efficiency in hydrogenation reactions surpassing the current heterogeneous analogues.