Barrier properties and industrial applications of industrially produced 2D hexagonal boron nitride

The transition to greener energy systems, longer-lasting infrastructure and safer biomedical devices is increasingly constrained by the lack of lightweight, defect-free barriers that can protect structures and materials from water, ions and gases without relying on scarce metals or fluorinated polymers. Two-dimensional crystals have shown promising results, yet commercial adoption has stalled because most production processes are still available only at gram-scale and materials cannot be standardized, certified or used in industrial applications. Addressing this bottleneck requires research programs that operate simultaneously on the factory floor and in the application lab, by developing large-volume exfoliation processes, formulating industry-ready coatings and validating the resulting films under sector-specific qualification tests. This industrial PhD project, jointly supervised by the DIME Dept – IMEG/MMM program with DICCA Dept Material Science Labs at Polytechnic School at University of Genova – and BeDimensional S.p.A., explores how ton-scale few-layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) obtained through the company’s wet-jet-milling patented process can be transformed into polymer-based barrier coatings for disparate technological sectors. After optimizing production and conducting a full structural, chemical and morphological characterization of the reference flakes, the research moves to application-driven studies. First, h-BN is incorporated into poly-isobutylene varnishes and evaluated on carbon steel substrates under accelerated electrochemical tests designed in house for marine anticorrosion following ASTM standards. The same composite is then laminated – through a collaboration with the University of Roma “Tor Vergata” – onto perovskite solar cells and modules, which are aged according to ISOS standards while additional Pb-leaching and thermal-cycle tests probe industrial readiness. Finally, ultrathin poly-vinyl-butyral/h-BN films are assessed as hermetic layers for cortical microelectrodes: nano-indentation experiments at the University of “Roma Tre” examine mechanical stability, whereas cytocompatibility assays carried out at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT with the support of Corticale srl, examine cellular and neuronal response. By interlacing large-scale nanosheet manufacturing, thin-film engineering, environmental and electro-mechanical testing and preliminary bio-assessment, the thesis demonstrates how coordinated efforts among BeDimensional S.p.A., three universities, a research center, and an industrial partners can accelerate the translation of 2D-material science into application-ready barrier technologies for infrastructure, energy and bioelectronics.