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Title: Fabrication of Subnanometer-Precision Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Abstract

Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of individual nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with atomically precise control of the pore shape and size. Previous methods of pore production in other 2D materials typically create pores with irregular geometry and imprecise diameters. In contrast, other studies have shown that with careful control of electron irradiation, defects in h-BN grow with pristine zig-zag edges at quantized triangular sizes, but they have failed to demonstrate production and control of isolated defects. In this work, we combine these techniques to yield a method in which we can create individual size-quantized triangular nanopores through an h-BN sheet. The pores are created using the electron beam of a conventional transmission electron microscope; which can strip away multiple layers of h-BN exposing single-layer regions, introduce single vacancies, and preferentially grow vacancies only in the single-layer region. We further demonstrate how the geometry of these pores can be altered beyond triangular by changing beam conditions. Precisely size- and geometry-tuned nanopores could find application in molecular sensing, DNA sequencing, water desalination, and molecular separation.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [5]
  1. Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Kavli Energy NanoScience Inst.
  2. Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Kavli Energy NanoScience Inst.
  3. Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Kavli Energy NanoScience Inst.; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
  5. Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division; Univ. of Calirnia, Berkeley, CA (United States). Kavli Energy NanoScience Inst.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOD
OSTI Identifier:
1419454
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; HDTRA1-15-1-0036; DMR-1206512
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; Nanopores; Two-dimensional materials

Citation Formats

Gilbert, S. Matt, Dunn, Gabriel, Azizi, Amin, Pham, Thang, Shevitski, Brian, Dimitrov, Edgar, Liu, Stanley, Aloni, Shaul, and Zettl, Alex. Fabrication of Subnanometer-Precision Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-12684-x.
Gilbert, S. Matt, Dunn, Gabriel, Azizi, Amin, Pham, Thang, Shevitski, Brian, Dimitrov, Edgar, Liu, Stanley, Aloni, Shaul, & Zettl, Alex. Fabrication of Subnanometer-Precision Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12684-x
Gilbert, S. Matt, Dunn, Gabriel, Azizi, Amin, Pham, Thang, Shevitski, Brian, Dimitrov, Edgar, Liu, Stanley, Aloni, Shaul, and Zettl, Alex. Wed . "Fabrication of Subnanometer-Precision Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12684-x. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1419454.
@article{osti_1419454,
title = {Fabrication of Subnanometer-Precision Nanopores in Hexagonal Boron Nitride},
author = {Gilbert, S. Matt and Dunn, Gabriel and Azizi, Amin and Pham, Thang and Shevitski, Brian and Dimitrov, Edgar and Liu, Stanley and Aloni, Shaul and Zettl, Alex},
abstractNote = {Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of individual nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with atomically precise control of the pore shape and size. Previous methods of pore production in other 2D materials typically create pores with irregular geometry and imprecise diameters. In contrast, other studies have shown that with careful control of electron irradiation, defects in h-BN grow with pristine zig-zag edges at quantized triangular sizes, but they have failed to demonstrate production and control of isolated defects. In this work, we combine these techniques to yield a method in which we can create individual size-quantized triangular nanopores through an h-BN sheet. The pores are created using the electron beam of a conventional transmission electron microscope; which can strip away multiple layers of h-BN exposing single-layer regions, introduce single vacancies, and preferentially grow vacancies only in the single-layer region. We further demonstrate how the geometry of these pores can be altered beyond triangular by changing beam conditions. Precisely size- and geometry-tuned nanopores could find application in molecular sensing, DNA sequencing, water desalination, and molecular separation.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-12684-x},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Wed Nov 08 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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