Few-Atomic-Layered Hexagonal Boron Nitride: CVD Growth, Characterization, and Applications Majharu Haque Khan University of Wollongong, [email protected]
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University of Wollongong Research Online Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers Australian Institute for Innovative Materials 2017 Few-atomic-layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications Majharu Haque Khan University of Wollongong, [email protected] Hua-Kun Liu University of Wollongong, [email protected] Xudong Sun Northeastern University Yusuke Yamauchi University of Wollongong, [email protected] Yoshio Bando National Institute For Materials Science, [email protected] See next page for additional authors Publication Details Khan, M., Liu, H. Kun., Sun, X., Yamauchi, Y., Bando, Y., Golberg, D. & Huang, Z. (2017). Few-atomic-layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications. Materials Today, 20 (10), 611-628. Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Few-atomic-layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications Abstract Two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown outstanding properties that make them the materials of choice for future semiconductor and flexible nanoelectronics. Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) is one of the most studied 2D materials due to its extraordinary properties and potential applications. The synthesis of large, homogeneous, and few-layered BNNS, however, remains challenging. Among the various synthetic routes, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is preferred on the grounds of its potential to yield large BNNS with controllable atomic layers and minimal contamination. We thus devote this review to the CVD growth of BNNS, and its characterization and applications. The er cent progresses in the CVD growth of BNNS is firstly summarized from the aspects of precursors, substrates, growth mechanisms, and transfer techniques. This review then moves on to the characterization of few-atomic-layered h-BN sheets, covering a variety of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques that have proved useful for assessing the quality of BNNS. The applications of the BNNS are also summarized. This review is expected to instigate new methods and improvements in relation to the CVD growth of BNNS, which has enabled exceptional performance as a key component of nanoscale electronics. Publication Details Khan, M., Liu, H. Kun., Sun, X., Yamauchi, Y., Bando, Y., Golberg, D. & Huang, Z. (2017). Few-atomic- layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications. Materials Today, 20 (10), 611-628. Authors Majharu Haque Khan, Hua-Kun Liu, Xudong Sun, Yusuke Yamauchi, Yoshio Bando, Dmitri Golberg, and Zhenguo Huang This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/aiimpapers/2823 Materials Today d Volume 20, Number 10 d December 2017 RESEARCH Few-atomic-layered hexagonal boron nitride: CVD growth, characterization, and applications RESEARCH: Review Majharul Haque Khan 1, Hua Kun Liu 1, Xudong Sun 2, Yusuke Yamauchi 1, Yoshio Bando 3, Dmitri Golberg 3,4, Zhenguo Huang 1,⇑ 1 Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia 2 Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819, China 3 International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3050044, Japan 4 School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia Two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown outstanding properties that make them the materials of choice for future semiconductor and flexible nanoelectronics. Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) is one of the most studied 2D materials due to its extraordinary properties and potential applications. The synthesis of large, homogeneous, and few-layered BNNS, however, remains challenging. Among the various synthetic routes, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is preferred on the grounds of its potential to yield large BNNS with controllable atomic layers and minimal contamination. We thus devote this review to the CVD growth of BNNS, and its characterization and applications. The recent progresses in the CVD growth of BNNS is firstly summarized from the aspects of precursors, substrates, growth mechanisms, and transfer techniques. This review then moves on to the characterization of few-atomic-layered h-BN sheets, covering a variety of microscopic and spectroscopic techniques that have proved useful for assessing the quality of BNNS. The applications of the BNNS are also summarized. This review is expected to instigate new methods and improvements in relation to the CVD growth of BNNS, which has enabled exceptional performance as a key component of nanoscale electronics. Introduction [3–5], the field did not gain enough attention until the discovery Dimensionality is an important feature for any material. One of of graphene in 2004 [6]. the early zero-dimensional (0D) materials was fullerene, which Over the last decade, there has been an exponential increase was synthesized in 1985 [1]. Later on, in 1991, the one- in 2D materials research. Graphene occupies the largest portion dimensional (1D) carbon nanotube was synthesized, which is of research output in the world of 2D materials. This is attributed one of the most studied materials over the last two decades [2]. to the exceptional properties of graphene, which primarily 2 À1 À1 Following the invention of 0D fullerene and 1D carbon nan- include ballistic charge carrier mobility (>200,000 cm V s ), otube, the only missing part in the reduced dimensional family excellent mechanical strength, remarkable thermal conductivity, was two-dimensional (2D) materials. Although there have been etc. [7]. The other 2D layered materials include hexagonal boron reports on the synthesis of 2D materials since the early 1960s nitride (h-BN), transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD, including MoS2,WS2, MoSe2, WSe2, etc.), transition metal oxides [8,9], and the buckled atomic crystals denoted as ‘Xenes’ (silicene [10], phosphorene [11,12], and germanene [13]). In addition, there ⇑ Corresponding author. may be hundreds of other 2D materials yet to be discovered [14]. E-mail address: Huang, Z. ([email protected]). 1369-7021/Ó 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2017.04.027 611 RESEARCH Materials Today d Volume 20, Number 10 d December 2017 2D materials have shown outstanding properties that make Nanostructured boron nitride fl them the materials of choice for future semiconducting and ex- Similar to the carbon allotropes of graphene, carbon nanotube, fl ible nanoelectronics [15]. The necessity of ultra-thinness, exibil- and fullerene, h-BN can form BNNS [8], BN nanotube [27], and fi ity, and energy ef ciency in these applications has put the use of BN fullerene [28]. In addition, various morphologies, such as 2D materials at the forefront. Nevertheless, 2D materials are nanoribbons [29,30], nanoplates [25,31], nanowires [32], nanofi- unable to support themselves due to their atomic scale thickness, bers [33], nanoropes [34], nanocups [35], nanofunnels [36], while the use of conventional bulk substrates as supports drasti- nanomikes [36], microbelts [37], and foams [38], have been cally reduces their performance. For example, the simple act of reported. putting graphene on top of an SiO2/Si substrate causes scattering BNNS is few-atomic-layered BN, in which in-plane hexagonal RESEARCH: Review of the electrons due to the dangling bonds and roughness of the arrangements of B and N atoms occur. Due to the remarkable SiO2 surface, which, consequently, reduces its carrier mobility structural similarity to graphene (bond length and interlayer dis- h considerably [16]. Using -BN as a support in preference to tance), single layer hexagonal boron nitride is also called ‘white SiO2/Si has improved the transport properties of graphene by graphene’. The difference in electronegativity between the B h at least an order of magnitude [16,17]. This is because -BN is (2.04) and N (3.04) atoms results in the BAN bond being slightly sp2 fl bonded, atomically at, devoid of dangling bonds, and an ionic in nature. fi insulator. A signi cant number of subsequent publications The 2D h-BN can be either zigzag or armchair edge terminated h reported the use of -BN as a dielectric layer in graphene-based (Fig. 1a,b) [39]. BNNS generally grows as triangular sheets on – fi transistors [18 22]. Recent ndings indicate that to realize future transition metal substrates, which result in a chemically unbal- graphene-based nanoelectronics applications, simultaneous anced state along the sheet edges, that is, either B terminated development of all the related 2D materials is essential. or N terminated edges. For the BNNS grown on Cu substrate, In this review, we have summarized the structural informa- the N terminated zigzag edge is found to be more favourable h tion on few-atomic-layered -BN nanosheet (BNNS), its synthe- than the B terminated one (Fig. 1c) [40], thus producing equilat- sis, characterization, and applications. The chemical vapour eral triangles during the growth. In contrast to the more favour- deposition (CVD) method has proven to be the most effective able zigzag edge termination in BNNS, the armchair edge technique for large-scale synthesis of high-quality