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Title: Spatially Resolved One-Dimensional Boundary States in Graphene-Hexagonal Boron Nitride Planar Heterostructures

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6403· OSTI ID:1185503
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
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Two-dimensional (2D) interfaces between crystalline materials have been shown to generate unusual interfacial electronic states in complex oxides1-4. Recently, a onedimensional (1D) polar-on-nonpolar interface has been realized in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and graphene heterostructures 5-10, where a coherent 1D boundary is expected to possess peculiar electronic states dictated by edge states of graphene and the polarity of hBN 11-13. Here we present a combined scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and firstprinciples theory study of the graphene-hBN boundary to provide a rare glimpse into the spatial and energetic distributions of the 1D boundary states in real-space. The interfaces studied here are crystallographically coherent with sharp transitions from graphene zigzag edges to B (or N) terminated hBN atomic layers on a Cu foil substrate5. The revealed boundary states are about 0.6 eV below or above the Fermi energy depending on the termination of the hBN at the boundary, and are extended along but localized at the boundary with a lateral thickness of 2-3nm. These results suggest that unconventional physical effects similar to those observed at 2D interfaces can also exist in lower dimensions, opening a route for tuning of electronic properties at interfaces in 2D heterostructures.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1185503
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 5; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 50 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (15)

Interface Characterization and Control of 2D Materials and Heterostructures journal July 2018
Epitaxial Growth of h‐BN on Templates of Various Dimensionalities in h‐BN–Graphene Material Systems journal January 2019
Transfer‐Free Synthesis of Lateral Graphene–Hexagonal Boron Nitride Heterostructures from Chemically Converted Epitaxial Graphene journal July 2019
Giant edge state splitting at atomically precise graphene zigzag edges journal May 2016
Strain distributions and their influence on electronic structures of WSe2–MoS2 laterally strained heterojunctions journal January 2018
Synthesis of hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures for 2D van der Waals electronics journal January 2018
Realizing high thermoelectric performance with comparable p- and n-type figure-of-merits in a graphene/h-BN superlattice monolayer journal January 2019
Direct imaging of the nitrogen-rich edge in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride and its band structure tuning journal January 2019
Materials design for electrocatalytic carbon capture journal February 2016
Giant enhancement of solid solubility in monolayer alloys by selective orbital coupling journal February 2020
Characterization of epitaxial silicene with Raman spectroscopy journal August 2018
A nanomolecular approach to decrease adhesion of biofouling-producing bacteria to graphene-coated material journal November 2015
Giant edge state splitting at atomically precise graphene zigzag edges text January 2016
Giant Enhancement of Solid Solubility in Monolayer BNC Alloys by Selective Orbital Coupling text January 2019
Temperature-triggered chemical switching growth of in-plane and vertically stacked graphene-boron nitride heterostructures journal April 2015

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