Tunable Band Gaps in Bilayer Graphene−BN Heterostructures

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 1070 - 1075
• Main Authors: Ramasubramaniam, Ashwin, Naveh, Doron, Towe, Elias
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 09.03.2011
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron states; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Materials science; Methods of electronic structure calculations; Physics; Specific materials; band-gap engineering; Graphene; hexagonal boron nitride; electronic structure; External fields; Stacking faults; Electronic properties; Theoretical study; Boron nitride; Gallium phosphide; Energy gap; Hexagonal crystals; Electric field effects; Density functional method; Heterostructures; Bilayers
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl1039499

We investigate band gap tuning of bilayer graphene between hexagonal boron nitride sheets, by external electric fields. Using density functional theory, we show that the gap is continuously tunable from 0 to 0.2 eV and is robust to stacking disorder. Moreover, boron nitride sheets do not alter the fundamental response from that of free-standing bilayer graphene, apart from additional screening. The calculations suggest that graphene−boron nitride heterostructures could provide a viable route to graphene-based electronic devices.