Growth and characterization of uniformly distributed triangular single-crystalline hexagonal boron nitride grains on liquid copper surface

Abstract Single-layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a two-dimensional (2D) material with a wide band gap and extraordinary mechanical, thermal and optical properties. It has promising applications in optoelectronics, electronics and photovoltaics. Low-pressure (150 Pa) chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) was used to prepare uniformly distributed single-crystalline triangular h-BN grains and continuous film on liquid copper surface. A series of microscopic and spectroscopic methods were performed to characterize the morphology, crystalline structure and quality, component and thickness. It was found that h-BN grains turned into circles at higher background pressure (1000 Pa), which was due to the change in the growth mechanism from equilibrium controlled to deposition controlled. Small islands formed on primary h-BN grains because of higher concentration of precursor product. Compared to the higher background pressure, the synthetic h-BN films at low background pressure exhibited larger domain size, lower nucleation density, and no adlayer growth. Due to randomly distributed polar h-BN grains, the grain boundaries formed along the h-BN domains after merging. Typical patterns formed via the coalescence of triangular h-BN grains indicating the merging mode of growth, including edge-to-edge and edge-to-point modes. This work provides a pathway for the preparation of uniformly distributed single-crystalline h-BN grains and an in-depth understanding of the growth and merging process on liquid Cu surface.