Oxygen Intercalation and Oxidation of Atomically Thin h‑BN Grown on a Curved Ni Crystal

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 123; no. 1; pp. 593 - 602
• Main Authors: Makarova, Anna A, Fernandez, Laura, Usachov, Dmitry Yu, Fedorov, Alexander, Bokai, Kirill A, Smirnov, Dmitry A, Laubschat, Clemens, Vyalikh, Denis V, Schiller, Frederik, Ortega, J. Enrique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 10.01.2019
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b10574

We study the effect of thermal oxygen exposure on a monolayer of h-BN grown on vicinal Ni surfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy, X-ray absorption, and photoemission spectroscopies. Using a curved Ni crystal, we carry out a systematic exploration of the h-BN monolayer interfacing a full variety of vicinal orientations around the (111) high-symmetry direction. We demonstrate the occurrence of two processes upon oxygen exposure: oxygen intercalation underneath the h-BN layer, which leads to decoupling of the h-BN from the substrate, and oxidation of h-BN itself, which proceeds via substitution of nitrogen atoms. Oxygen intercalation appears to be substrate orientation dependent, while oxidation of h-BN is rather uniform over the different vicinal planes. These findings will be of importance for future applications of BN-based devices and materials under ambient conditions.