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Abstract
Two-dimensional materials offer a variety of exciting properties and their synthesis has been tailored to many different materials. The 2D nanostructuring of metal borides is brand new avenue for these hard, high melting point materials. Nanosheets of metal phosphates, on the other hand, have been synthesized previously due to their application in battery storage with various degree of success. Chapter II describes the modification of LaB6 using a top-down Mg2+ incorporation technique, its exfoliation into nanosheets and the comparison of the obtained results to similar lithiation approaches. Chapters III and IV detail the same methodology applied to CaB6 and SrB6/BaB6, respectively, and explain the differences and similarities in the chemistry of the three alkaline-earth metal borides. And finally, Chapter V illustrates the solvothermal synthesis of LiCoPO4 nanosheets and the tuning of lateral dimensions of previously synthesized LiMnPO4 ones using ball-milling techniques.