Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) are structurally and mechanically similar to carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In contrast, BNNTs exhibit unique properties for being electrically insulating and optically transparent due to the polarized boron nitride bonds. All these properties have prevented the use of BNNTs for energy harvesting and electronic devices for more than 25 years. During the past few years, researchers have started to demonstrate a series of novel applications of BNNTs based on unique properties not found on CNTs. For example, these novel applications include osmotic power harvesting using the charged inner surfaces of BNNTs, room-temperature single-electron transistors using insulating BNNTs as the tunneling channels, high-brightness fluorophores that can be 1000-times brighter than regular dyes, and transistors based on Tellurium atomic chains filled inside BNNTs. We have reviewed some of these emerging applications and provided our perspective for future work.

Molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS₂ QDs) are a unique class of zero-dimensional (0D) van der Waals nanostructures. MoS₂ QDs have attracted significant attention due to their unique optical, electronic, chemical, and biological properties due to the presence of edge states of these van der Waals QDs for various chemical functionalization. Their novel properties have enabled applications in many fields, including advanced electronics, electrocatalysis, and biomedicine. In this review, the various synthesis techniques, the novel properties, and the wide applications of MoS₂ quantum dots are discussed in detail.

In this review, we examine recent progress using boron nitride (BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanostructures for electronic, energy, biomedical, and environmental applications. The scope of coverage includes zero-, one-, and two-dimensional nanostructures such as BN nanosheets, BN nanotubes, BN quantum dots, MoS₂ nanosheets, and MoS₂ quantum dots. These materials have sizable bandgaps, differentiating them from other metallic nanostructures or small-bandgap materials. We observed two interesting trends: (1) an increase in applications that use heterogeneous materials by combining BN and MoS₂ nanostructures with other nanomaterials, and (2) strong research interest in environmental applications. Last, we encourage researchers to study how to remove nanomaterials from air, soil, and water contaminated with nanomaterials. As nanotechnology proceeds into various applications, environmental contamination is inevitable and must be addressed. Otherwise, nanomaterials will go into our food chain much like microplastics.

Boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs) have gained increasing attention for their versatile fluorescent, optoelectronic, chemical, and biochemical properties. During the past few years, significant progress has been demonstrated, started from theoretical modeling to actual application. Many interesting properties and applications have been reported, such as excitation-dependent emission (and, in some cases, non-excitation dependent), chemical functionalization, bioimaging, phototherapy, photocatalysis, chemical, and biological sensing. An overview of this early-stage research development of BNQDs is presented in this article. We have prepared un-bias assessments on various synthesis methods, property analysis, and applications of BNQDs here, and provided our perspective on the development of these emerging nanomaterials for years to come.

The popularity of boron nitride nanomaterials for their application in areas like electronics, photovoltaic, biomedical, automobile, and so on has increased in the recent era. Some unique properties make BNNTs outstanding for biomedical and photovoltaic applications, such as their optical transparency, electrical insulation, and biological compatibility. Hence large-scale synthesis of high-purity small-diameter BNNTs is required. On the other hand, research on the origin of excitation-dependent fluorescence (EDF) in BN dots is in its infancy. So, in this dissertation, we studied the growth mechanism of high-purity BNNTs with diameters smaller than 30nm. Additionally, we synthesized two different types of BN dots [sonication-assisted solvothermal (ss) BN dots and liquid nitrogen (LN) exfoliated BN dots], and studied their fluorescent properties. For the first time, we exploited the EDF property of the ss BN dots for solar cells. Here, we define ss BN dots as a pseudo-core/shell structure of DMA-CO and BN nanosheets and use them as the solar absorber (active layers, AL) to yield an efficiency of 1.51%. Our work is the first demonstration using biological and environmentally friendly colloidal nanomaterials for solar cells. In addition, we determined, for the first time, the biocompatible doses of ss BN dots for use in live HeLa cells. We found ss BN dots are suitable for live cell staining at doses below <10mg/mL for four consecutive days. We further investigated the photophysical properties of ss BN dots as fluorescent probes. We also demonstrated bright fluorescent staining of live HeLa cells using high-brightness fluorophores (HBFs) produced by our collaborators based on BN dots.