Atomically thin sheets of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have the handy benefit of protecting what’s underneath from oxidizing even at very high temperatures, Rice University researchers have discovered.

One or several layers of the material sometimes called “white graphene” keep materials from oxidizing – or rusting — up to 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit), and can be made large enough for industrial applications, they said.

The Rice study led by materials scientists Pulickel Ajayan and Jun Lou appears in the online journal Nature Communications.

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