Gram-scale synthesis of boron nitride nanosheets by salt-template method for anticancer drug delivery

Development of advanced drug nanocarriers that can improve cancer chemotherapeutic efficacy, reduce side effect and drug resistance is of particular interests. In this work, pure and crystalline boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) were synthesized by a NaCl-template reaction with the yield over 1 g for a single reaction, which is 1–3 orders of magnitudes higher than other common lab-based techniques, such as liquid exfoliation, ball milling, etc. After hydroxylation, the OH-BNNSs showed high dispersibility in water and stability for over two days without precipitation at a concentration of 1 mg mL−1. When applied for CPT delivery, the highly biocompatible OH-BNNSs could effectively load and deliver CPT for effective 4T1 breast cancer inhibitions both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting the potentials of the BNNSs for drug delivery applications. This work provides an efficient and practical way for large-scale productions of BNNSs for biomedical applications.