Application-driven synthesis and characterization of hexagonal boron nitride deposited on metals and carbon nanotubes

Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is unique among two-dimensional materials, with a large band gap (∼6 eV) and high in-plane thermal conductivity (>400 W m ⁻¹ K ⁻¹ ), second only to diamond among electrical insulators. Many studies to date have relied on exfoliated h-BN, however, for large-scale applications the material must be synthesized by methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Here, we first investigate single-layer h-BN synthesized by CVD on single crystal platinum (Pt), comparing these films with h-BN deposited on more commonly used polycrystalline Pt and Cu. The h-BN film grown on single crystal Pt has the lowest surface roughness and best spatial homogeneity, and our electrochemical transfer process allows the Pt to be reused with no measurable degradation. We also demonstrate direct capping of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with as-grown h-BN, but we find that the direct growth partly degrades the CNT electrical conductivity. On the other hand, we show that transferred monolayer h-BN can serve as an ultrathin barrier which protects MoS ₂ from damage at high temperatures and discuss other applications that take advantage of the conformal h-BN deposition.