Growth of High-Crystalline, Single-Layer Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Recyclable Platinum Foil

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is gaining significant attention as a two-dimensional dielectric material, along with graphene and other such materials. Herein, we demonstrate the growth of highly crystalline, single-layer h-BN on Pt foil through a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition method that allowed h-BN to be grown over a wide area (8 × 25 mm²). An electrochemical bubbling-based method was used to transfer the grown h-BN layer from the Pt foil onto an arbitrary substrate. This allowed the Pt foil, which was not consumed during the process, to be recycled repeatedly. The UV–visible absorption spectrum of the single-layer h-BN suggested an optical band gap of 6.06 eV, while a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image of the same showed the presence of distinct hexagonal arrays of B and N atoms, which were indicative of the highly crystalline nature and single-atom thickness of the h-BN layer. This method of growing single-layer h-BN over large areas was also compatible with use of a sapphire substrate