Isolating hydrogen in hexagonal boron nitride bubbles by a plasma treatment

Abstract

Atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride ( h -BN) is often regarded as an elastic film that is impermeable to gases. The high stabilities in thermal and chemical properties allow h -BN to serve as a gas barrier under extreme conditions. Here, we demonstrate the isolation of hydrogen in bubbles of h -BN via plasma treatment. Detailed characterizations reveal that the substrates do not show chemical change after treatment. The bubbles are found to withstand thermal treatment in air, even at 800 °C. Scanning transmission electron microscopy investigation shows that the h -BN multilayer has a unique aligned porous stacking nature, which is essential for the character of being transparent to atomic hydrogen but impermeable to hydrogen molecules. In addition, we successfully demonstrated the extraction of hydrogen gases from gaseous compounds or mixtures containing hydrogen element. The successful production of hydrogen bubbles on h -BN flakes has potential for further application in nano/micro-electromechanical systems and hydrogen storage.

Vapor–liquid–solid growth of large-area multilayer hexagonal boron nitride on dielectric substrates

“…In the inset, the corresponding fast Fourier transform (FFT) pattern displays only one set of six-fold symmetric diffraction, indicating the well-defined stacking order of the asprepared h-BN multilayers. Their stacking order was also verified via the method of H plasma treatment 31 . To control the thickness of the h-BN layers, the influence of the growth temperature was also investigated ( Supplementary Fig.…”

Nanoscale Measurements of Elastic Properties and Hydrostatic Pressure in H2‐Bulged MoS2 Membranes

“…[3][4][5] Moreover, it has attracted growing interest due to the great tunability of its electronic properties as a several strategies for artificially inducing nanoblistering in 2D materials have been developed and employed, such as surface etching, [32,33] low temperature growth, [34,35] and surface hydrogenation. [36][37][38][39][40] The growing interest into 2D material blisters relies on the possibility of using them as a tool to probe and study: 1) the induced strain occurring at the blister surface and its impact on the electronic and optical properties of 2D materials; 2) the elastic properties of the 2D crystal involved (stretching modulus, Young's modulus, adhesion and/or exfoliation energy); 3) the nanoscale confinement exerted on the enclosed material (e.g., hydrostatic pressure). These studies are particularly relevant for the field of straintronics and twistronics (e.g., applications of flexible and stretchable electronics and photonics based on 2D materials and vdW heterostructures).…”

Moiré patterns arising from bilayer graphone/graphene superlattice

“…2(a)). According to the reported work on the formation of hBN bubbles by plasma treatment [38], the rippled structure is most likely due to the atomic hydrogens moving through the bilayer graphene. Moreover, since the hydrogenation triggers a conversion of sp 2 carbon to sp 3 carbon, this process will create strains in the graphene lattice and thus also contribute to the formation of the ripples.…”