One-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride conducting channel

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is an insulating two-dimensional (2D) material with a large bandgap. Although known for its interfacing with other 2D materials and structural similarities to graphene, the potential use of hBN in 2D electronics is limited by its insulating nature. Here, we report atomically sharp twin boundaries at AA′/AB stacking boundaries in chemical vapor deposition–synthesized few-layer hBN. We find that the twin boundary is composed of a 6′6′ configuration, showing conducting feature with a zero bandgap. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of the atomically sharp twin boundaries is suggested by an analogy with stacking combinations of AA′/AB based on the observations of extended Klein edges at the layer boundaries of AB-stacked hBN. The atomically sharp AA′/AB stacking boundary is promising as an ultimate 1D electron channel embedded in insulating pristine hBN. This study will provide insights into the fabrication of single-hBN electronic devices.

Structure, Properties and Applications of Two‐Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride

“…This process is reported to transform the electronic transport of h-BN modifying insulating BN into a conductive material. [105] Correspondingly, the doping of exfoliated h-BN with potassium leads to a rigid shift of VB where the band edge moves from the binding energy of 2.8 to 5.3 eV while the CB [98] Copyright 2020, AAAS. g-i) Top view of a vdW ZGNR/h-BN heterostructure and its predicted density of states (PDOS) and their spin densities.…”

Stacking-engineered ferroelectricity in bilayer boron nitride

“…This 180° rotated natural stacking order restores the inversion symmetry broken in the monolayer. However, if two hBN monolayer sheets are stacked without rotation (parallel stacking, P), it has been theoretically (26,27) and experimentally (28)(29)(30)(31) shown that polar AB or BA stacking orders (Fig. 1, B and C, respectively) are formed.…”

Recent Advances in High-Throughput Nanomaterial Manufacturing for Hybrid Flexible Bioelectronics

“…These recent developments in high resolution and high throughput gravure manufacturing, combined with the novel advances in printable, conductive nanomaterial inks discussed in Section 3 , make them well suited to numerous bioelectronics applications, including multilayer circuit fabrication and sensor manufacturing, such as the sweat sensor demonstrated in Figure 2 e [ 40 ]. However, gravure printing also presents very high startup costs, incurs high costs to prototype, places rigid requirements on ink rheology, and often requires substrate surface modifications in order to achieve optimal printing [ 17 , 27 , 57 ].…”

“…Additionally, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a high bandgap, biocompatible, nanomaterial isostructural to graphene that is highly suited for nanophotonics. It is a natural hyperbolic material in the mid-IR range [ 147 ], attractive for use as a substrate for graphene transistors because of its atomic-scale smoothness [ 32 ], advantageous for electrochemical sensing [ 148 ], of great interest as a capacitive dielectric [ 130 ], and potentially suited for the in-situ formation of 1D conducting channels [ 57 ]. Printable h-BN monolayers may be synthesized through top-down approaches, such as mechanical and chemical exfoliation, or bottom-down approaches, such as PVD and CVD [ 148 ].…”

“…Traditional biosensing methods, as discussed in the introduction, are highly limited because of exceptional costs and the inability to record results continuously in real-time, whereas printed biosensors are well suited to long-term, continuous monitoring in an affordable and wearable package [ 12 , 13 ]. The clinical implication of such technology is clear, and the development of high throughput biosensor fabrication, such as the slot die process that is shown in Figure 10 b [ 57 ] It is of very high importance [ 13 ]. Generally, biosensors consist of a receptor, e.g., an antibody, and transducer, e.g., a nanomaterial sheet capable of transmitting an electrical signal from the receptor to a circuit element [ 13 , 16 ].…”