Controlling Bandgap of Rippled Hexagonal Boron Nitride Membranes via Plasma Treatment

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 30 - 33
• Main Authors: Zhang, H. X, Feng, P. X
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 25-01-2012
• Subjects: ripples; h-BN membrane; bandgap; plasma; hydrogenation; TEM
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/am201435z

Few-layer rippled hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) membranes were processed with hydrogen plasma, which exhibit distinct and pronounced changes in its electronic properties after the plasma treatment. The bandgaps of the h-BN membrane reduced from ∼5.6 eV at 0 s to ∼4.25 eV at 250s, which is a signature of transition from the insulating to the semiconductive regime. It typically required 250 s of plasma treatment to reach the saturation. It illustrates that two-dimensional material with engineered electronic properties can be created by attaching other atoms or molecules.