Nucleation control for large, single crystalline domains of monolayer hexagonal boron nitride via Si-doped Fe catalysts.

Caneva, Sabina; Weatherup, Robert S; Bayer, Bernhard C; Brennan, Barry; Spencer, Steve J; Mingard, Ken; Cabrero-Vilatela, Andrea; Baehtz, Carsten et al. · Nano Lett · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The scalable chemical vapor deposition of monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) single crystals, with lateral dimensions of ∼0.3 mm, and of continuous h-BN monolayer films with large domain sizes (>25 μm) is demonstrated via an admixture of Si to Fe catalyst films. A simple thin-film Fe/SiO2/Si catalyst system is used to show that controlled Si diffusion into the Fe catalyst allows exclusive nucleation of monolayer h-BN with very low nucleation densities upon exposure to undiluted borazine. Our systematic in situ and ex situ characterization of this catalyst system establishes a basis for further rational catalyst design for compound 2D materials.