International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
Nano Lett. 2010 Dec 8;10(12):5049-55. doi: 10.1021/nl103251m. Epub 2010 Oct 28.
Inspired by rich physics and functionalities of graphenes, scientists have taken an intensive interest in two-dimensional (2D) crystals of h-BN (analogue of graphite, so-called "white" graphite). Recent calculations have predicted the exciting potentials of BN nanoribbons in spintronics due to tunable magnetic and electrical properties; however no experimental evidence has been provided since fabrication of such ribbons remains a challenge. Here, we show that few- and single-layered BN nanoribbons, mostly terminated with zigzag edges, can be produced under unwrapping multiwalled BN nanotubes through plasma etching. The interesting stepwise unwrapping and intermediate states were observed and analyzed. Opposed to insulating primal tubes, the nanoribbons become semiconducting due to doping-like conducting edge states and vacancy defects, as revealed by structural analyses and ab initio simulations. This study paves the way for BN nanoribbon production and usage as functional semiconductors with a wide range of applications in optoelectronics and spintronics.
受石墨烯丰富的物理性质和功能的启发，科学家们对二维（2D）六方氮化硼（h-BN，石墨的类似物，又称“白石墨”）晶体产生了浓厚的兴趣。由于可调磁电特性，最近的计算预测 BN 纳米带在自旋电子学中有令人兴奋的应用潜力；然而，由于制造这种纳米带仍然是一个挑战，因此没有提供实验证据。在这里，我们表明，通过等离子体刻蚀从多壁 BN 纳米管中解包裹可以得到具有锯齿边缘的少层和单层 BN 纳米带。观察到并分析了有趣的逐步解包裹和中间状态。与绝缘原始管相反，由于掺杂样的导带边缘态和空位缺陷，纳米带成为半导体，这通过结构分析和从头算模拟得到证实。这项研究为 BN 纳米带的生产和应用铺平了道路，可作为功能半导体，在光电子学和自旋电子学中有广泛的应用。
