The application of low-dimensional materials for heat dissipation requires a comprehensive understanding of the thermal transport at the cross interface, which widely exists in various composite materials and electronic devices. In this work, we proposed an analytical model, named as cross interface model (CIM), to accurately reveal the essential mechanism of the two-dimensional thermal transport at the cross interface. The applicability of CIM is validated through the comparison of the analytical results with molecular dynamics simulations for a typical cross interface of two overlapped boron nitride nanoribbons. Besides, it is figured out that the factor (η) has important influence on the thermal transport besides the thermal resistance inside and between the materials, which is found to be determined by two dimensionless parameters from its expression. Our investigations deepen the understanding of the thermal transport at the cross interface and also facilitate to guide the applications of low-dimensional materials in thermal management.
Hexagonal boron nitride is an ideal dielectric to form two-dimensional heterostructures due to the fact that it can be exfoliated to be just few atoms thick and its a very low density of defects. By placing graphene nanoribbons on high quality hexagonal boron nitride it is possible to create ideal quasi one dimensional (1D) systems with very high mobility. The availability of high quality one-dimensional electronic systems is of great interest also given that when in proximity to a superconductor they can be effectively engineered to realize Majorana bound states. In this work we study how a b…
We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of both single layer graphene micron-sized devices and nanoribbons on a hexagonal boron nitride substrate. We show that the micron-sized devices have significantly higher mobility and lower disorder density compared to devices fabricated on silicon dioxide substrate in agreement with previous findings. The transport characteristics of the reactive-ion-etched graphene nanoribbons on hexagonal boron nitride, however, appear to be very similar to those of ribbons on a silicon dioxide substrate. We perform a detailed study in order to hi…
Exploring the mechanism of interfacial thermal transport and reducing the interfacial thermal resistance is of great importance for thermal management and modulation. Herein, the interfacial thermal resistance between overlapped graphene nanoribbons is largely reduced by adding bonded carbon chains by performing molecular dynamics simulations. And the analytical model (cross-interface model, CIM) is utilized to analyze and explain the two-dimensional thermal transport mechanism at cross-interface. An order of magnitude reduction in interfacial thermal resistance is found as the graphene nanori…
Chemically synthesized "cove"-type graphene nanoribbons (cGNRs) of different widths were brought into dispersion and drop-cast onto exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) on a Si/SiO2 chip. With AFM we observed that the cGNRs form ordered domains aligned along the crystallographic axes of the hBN. Using electron beam lithography and metallization, we contacted the cGNRs with NiCr/Au, or Pd contacts and measured their I-V-characteristics. The transport through the ribbons was dominated by the Schottky behavior of the contacts between the metal and the ribbon.
The search for half-metals and spin-gapless semiconductors has attracted extensive attention in material design for spintronics. Existing progress in such a search often requires peculiar atomistic lattice configuration and also lacks active control of the resulting electronic properties. Here we reveal that a boron-nitride nanoribbon with a carbon-doped edge can be made a half-metal or a spin-gapless semiconductor in a programmable fashion. The mechanical strain serves as the on/off switches for functions of half-metal and spin-gapless semiconductor to occur. Our findings shed light on how th…
High quality graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) grown by on-surface synthesis strategies with atomic precision can be controllably doped by inserting heteroatoms or chemical groups in the molecular precursors. Here, we study the electronic structure of armchair GNRs substitutionally doped with di-boron moieties at the center, through a combination of scanning tunneling spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission, and density functional theory simulations. Boron atoms appear with a small displacement towards the surface signaling their stronger interaction with the metal. We find two boron-rich flat ba…
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), low-dimensional platforms for carbon-based electronics, show the promising perspective to also incorporate spin polarization in their conjugated electron system. However, magnetism in GNRs is generally associated to localized states around zigzag edges, difficult to fabricate and with high reactivity. Here we demonstrate that magnetism can also be induced away from physical GNR zigzag edges through atomically precise engineering topological defects in its interior. A pair of substitutional boron atoms inserted in the carbon backbone breaks the conjugation of their …
Single-layer and bilayer carbon and hexagonal boron nitride nanoscrolls as well as nanoscrolls made of bilayer graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure are considered. Structures of stable states of the corresponding nanoscrolls prepared by rolling single-layer and bilayer rectangular nanoribbons are obtained based on the analytical model and numerical calculations. The lengths of nanoribbons for which stable and energetically favorable nanoscrolls are possible are determined. Barriers to rolling of single-layer and bilayer nanoribbons into nanoscrolls and barriers to nanoscroll unroll…
We numerically investigate the impact of boron nitride (BN) domains on the transport properties of graphene nanoribbons with lengths ranging from a few to several hundreds of nanometers and lateral size up to 4 nm. By varying the size and morphology of the BN islands embedded in the graphene matrix, a wide transport tunability is obtained from perfect insulating interfaces to asymmetric electron-hole transmission profiles, providing the possibility to engineer mobility gaps to improve device performances. Even in the low-density limit of embedded BN islands, transport properties are found to b…
The electronic properties of boron-nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs) doped with a line of carbon atoms are investigated by using density functional calculations. Three different configurations are possible: the carbon atoms may replace a line of boron or nitrogen atoms or a line of alternating B and N atoms which results in very different electronic properties. We found that: i) the NCB arrangement is strongly polarized with a large dipole moment having an unexpected direction, ii) the BCB and NCN arrangement are non-polar with zero dipole moment, iii) the doping by a carbon line reduces the band ga…
We study the performance of a hybrid Graphene-Boron Nitride {GNR-BN} armchair nanoribbon {a-GNR-BN} MOSFET at its ballistic transport limit. We consider three geometric configurations 3p, 3p+1 and 3p+2 of a-GNR-BN with BN atoms embedded on both sides {2, 4 and 6 BN on each side} on the GNR. The material properties like band gap, effective mass and density of states of these H-passivated structures have been evaluated using the Density Functional Theory {DFT}. Using these material parameters, self-consistent Poisson-Schrodinger simulations are carried out under the Non Equilibrium Greens Functi…
Here, we report the performance of vacancy affected supercell of a hybrid Graphene-Boron Nitride embedded armchair nanoribbon (a-GNR-BN) based n-MOSFET at its ballistic transport limit using Non Equilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) methodology. A supercell is made of the 3p configuration of armchair nanoribbon that is doped on the either side with 6 BN atoms and is also H-passivated. The type of vacancies studied are mono (B removal), di (B and N atom removal) and hole (removal of 6 atoms) formed all at the interface of carbon and BN atoms. Density Functional Theory (DFT) is employed to evaluat…
The hybrid graphene - hexagonal boron nitride (G-hBN) systems offer new routes in the design of nanoscale electronic devices. Using {\it ab initio} density functional theory calculations we investigate the dynamics of zig-zag nanoribbons a few interatomic distances wide. Several structures are analyzed, namely pristine graphene, hBN and G-hBN systems. By passivating the nanoribbon edges with hydrogen and different halogen atoms, one may tune the electronic and mechanical properties, like the band gap energies and the natural frequencies of vibration.
We present an ab initio study of the structural, electronic, and quantum transport properties of B-N-complex edge-doped graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). We find that the B-N edge codop-ing is energetically a very favorable process and furthermore can achieve novel doping effects that are absent for the single B or N doping. The compensation effect between B and N is predicted to generally recover the excellent electronic transport properties of pristine GNRs. For the zigzag GNRs, however, the spatially localized B-N defect states selectively destroy the doped-side spin-polarized GNR edge currents …
Electronic properties of zigzag boron-carbon-nitride (BCN) nanoribbons, where the outermost C atoms on the edges of graphene nanoribbons are replaced by B or N atoms, are theoretically studied using the first-principles calculations. We show that BCN nanoribbons are metallic, since several bands cross the Fermi level. For BCN nanoribbons in a rich H$_2$ environment, the so-called nearly free electron state appears just above the Fermi level because of the intrinsic giant Stark effect due to the internal electric field of a transverse dipole moment. The position of the nearly free electron stat…
Using density functional theory, we predict half-metallicity in edge hydrogenated armchair boron nitride nanoribbons (ABNNRs). The predicted spin polarization is analyzed in detail by calculating electronic and magnetic properties of these hydrogenated ABNNRs by means of first-principles calculations within the local spin-density approximation (LSDA). ABNNRs with only edge B atoms passivated by H atoms are found to be half-metallic (regardless of their width) with a half-metal gap of 0.26 eV. Upto 100% spin polarized charge transport is predicted across the Fermi level owing to the giant spin …
The thermoelectric properties of hybrid graphene-boron nitride nanoribbons (BCNNRs) are investigated using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) approach. We find that the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) can be remarkably enhanced by periodically embedding hexagonal BN (h-BN) into graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). Compared to pristine GNRs, the ZT for armchair-edged BCNNRs with width index 3p+2 is enhanced up to 10~20 times while the ZT of nanoribbons with other widths is enhanced just by 1.5~3 times. As for zigzag-edge nanoribbons, the ZT is enhanced up to 2~3 times. This improvement com…
This study of elastic and plastic deformation of graphene, silicene, and boron nitride (BN) honeycomb nanoribbons under uniaxial tension determines their elastic constants and reveals interesting features. In the course of stretching in the elastic range, the electronic and magnetic properties can be strongly modified. In particular, it is shown that the band gap of a specific armchair nanoribbon is closed under strain and highest valance and lowest conduction bands are linearized. This way, the massless Dirac fermion behavior can be attained even in a semiconducting nanoribbon. Under plastic …
Lateral heterostructures of two-dimensional materials may exhibit various intriguing emergent properties. Yet when specified to the orientationally aligned heterojunctions of zigzag graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) nanoribbons, realizations of the high expectations on their properties encounter two standing hurtles. First, the rapid accumulation of strain energy prevents large- scale fabrication. Secondly, the pronounced half-metallicity predicted for freestanding graphene nanoribbons is severely suppressed. By properly tailoring orientational misalignment between zigzag graphene and…
The integrated inplane growth of two dimensional materials with similar lattices, but distinct electrical properties, could provide a promising route to achieve integrated circuitry of atomic thickness. However, fabrication of edge specific GNR in the lattice of hBN still remains an enormous challenge for present approaches. Here we developed a two step growth method and successfully achieved sub 5 nm wide zigzag and armchair GNRs embedded in hBN, respectively. Further transport measurements reveal that the sub 7 nm wide zigzag GNRs exhibit openings of the band gap inversely proportional to th…
The structural similarity between hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and graphene nanoribbons allows for the formation of heterojunctions with small chain stress. The combination of the insulation nature of the former and the quasi-metallic property of the latter makes this kind of heterostructure particularly interesting for flat optoelectronics. Recently, it was experimentally demonstrated that the shapes of the graphene and h-BN domains can be controlled precisely, and sharp graphene/h-BN interfaces can be created. Here, we investigated the electronic and structural properties of graphene (h-BN…
This paper presents a systematic study of two and one dimensional honeycomb structure of boron nitride (BN) using first-principles plane wave method. Two-dimensional (2D) graphene like BN is a wide band gap semiconductor with ionic bonding. Phonon dispersion curves demonstrate the stability of 2D BN flakes. Quasi 1D armchair BN nanoribbon are nonmagnetic semiconductors with edge states. Upon passivation of B and N with hydrogen atoms these edge states disappear and band gap increases. Bare zigzag BN nanoribbons are metallic, but become a ferromagnetic semiconductor when their both edges are pa…
Previously, graphene nanoribbons set in lateral heterostructures with hexagonal boron nitride were predicted to support topologically protected states at low energy. We investigate how robust the transport properties of these states are against lattice disorder. We find that forms of disorder that do not couple the two valleys of the zigzag graphene nanoribbon do not impact the transport properties at low bias, indicating that these lateral heterostructures are very promising candidates for chip-scale conducting interconnects. Forms of disorder that do couple the two valleys, such as vacancies…
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are ultra-narrow strips of graphene that have the potential to be used in high-performance graphene-based semiconductor electronics. However, controlled growth of GNRs on dielectric substrates remains a challenge. Here, we report the successful growth of GNRs directly on hexagonal boron nitride substrates with smooth edges and controllable widths using chemical vapour deposition. The approach is based on a type of template growth that allows for the in-plane epitaxy of mono-layered GNRs in nano-trenches on hexagonal boron nitride with edges following a zigzag direct…
We would like to comment that the prediction of Half-mtallicity in only B edge H-passivated zigzag boron nitride nanoribbons (ZBNNR-BH), by Zheng et al.1, is not correct as their interpretation is erroneous. Since it is well known that for a material, to be a half-metal, as a primary condition one type of spin channels or bands (either spin up or spin down) are conducting and the opposite ones are insulating. In commented article 1, ZBNNR-BH shows insulating behavior for spin up bands (Eg=4.5 eV) whereas conducting nature for spin down electrons. They claim1 through the electronic band structu…
Presence of flat bands and edge states at the Fermi level in graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges is one of the most interesting and attracting properties of nanocarbon materials but it is believed that they are quite fragile states and disappear when B and N atoms are doped at around the edges. In this paper, we theoretically investigate electronic and magnetic properties of boron-carbon-nitride (BCN) nanoribbons with zigzag edges where the outermost C atoms on the edges are alternately replaced with B and N atoms using the first principles calculations. We show that BCN nanoribbons have th…
Spin-hosting graphene nanostructures are promising metal-free systems for elementary quantum spintronic devices. Conventionally, spins are protected from quenching by electronic bandgaps, which also hinder electronic access to their quantum state. Here, we present a narrow graphene nanoribbon substitutionally doped with boron heteroatoms that combines a metallic character with the presence of localized spin 1/2 states in its interior. The ribbon was fabricated by on-surface synthesis on a Au(111) substrate. Transport measurements through ribbons suspended between the tip and the sample of a sc…
The effects of edge chemistry on the relative stability and electronic properties of zigzag boron nitride nanoribbons (ZBNNRs) are investigated. Among all functional groups considered, fully hydroxylated ZBNNRs are found to be the most energetically stable. When an in-plane external electric field is applied perpendicular to the axis of both hydrogenated and hydroxylated ZBNNRs, a spin-polarized half-metallic state is induced, whose character is different than that predicted for ZGNRs. The onset field for achieving the half-metallic state is found to mainly depend on the width of the ribbon. O…
We employ first-principles calculations based density-functional-theory (DFT) approach to study electronic properties of partially and fully edge-hydrogenated armchair boron-nitrogen-carbon (BNC) nanoribbons (ABNCNRs), with widths between 0.85 nm to 2.3 nm. Due to the partial passivation of edges, electrons which do not participate in the bonding, form new energy states located near the Fermi-level. Because of these additional bands, some ABNCNRs exhibit metallic behavior, which is quite uncommon in armchair nanoribbons. Our calculations reveal that the metallic behavior is observed for the fo…
We study the electronic structure and magnetic properties of h-BN triangular clusters embedded in graphene supercells. We find that, depending on the sizes of the clusters and the graphene separation region between them, spin polarization can be induced through charge doping or can be observed even in the neutral state. For these cases, half-metallicity is observed for certain charged states, which are otherwise metallic. In these half-metallic states, the spin density is concentrated near the edges of the clusters, in analogy to the more common predictions for half-metals in zigzag graphene n…
Using density functional theory combined with a Green's function scattering approach, we examine the thermoelectric properties of hetero-nanoribbons formed from alternating lengths of graphene and boron nitride. In such structures, the boron nitride acts as a tunnel barrier, which weakly couples states in the graphene, to form mini-bands . In un-doped nanoribbons, the mini bands are symmetrically positioned relative to the Fermi energy and do not enhance thermoelectric performance significantly. In contrast, when the ribbons are doped by electron donating or electron accepting adsorbates, the …
We predict intrinsic half-metallicity in armchair boron nitride nanoribbons (ABNNRs) via edge fluorination. The stability, electronic and magnetic properties of bare and edge fluorinated ABNNRs have been systematically analyzed by means of first-principles calculations within the local spin-density approximation (LSDA). The ribbons whose only edge-B atoms passivated with F atoms (i.e., edge-N atoms are un-passivated), regardless of width, are found half-metallic with a half-metal gap of 0.3 eV. A 100 \% spin polarized charge transport across the Fermi level is expected for such ribbons as the …
We report on quantum transport measurements on etched graphene nanoribbons encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). At zero magnetic field our devices behave qualitatively very similar to what has been reported for graphene nanoribbons on $\text{SiO}_2$ or hBN, but exhibit a considerable smaller transport gap. At magnetic fields of around $3~$T the transport behavior changes considerably and is dominated by a much larger energy gap induced by electron-electron interactions completely suppressing transport. This energy gap increases with a slope on the order of $3-4~ $meV/T reaching value…
We perform first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to study quasi one-dimensional edge-passivated (with hydrogen) zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) of various widths with chemical dopants, boron and nitrogen, keeping the whole system isoelectronic. Gradual increase in doping concentration takes the system finally to zigzag boron nitride nanoribbons (ZBNNRs). Our study reveals that, for all doping concentrations the systems stabilize in anti-ferromagnetic ground states. Doping concentrations and dopant positions regulate the electronic structure of the nanoribbons, ex…
We demonstrate snake-like motion of graphene nanoribbons atop graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) substrates using fully-atomistic non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The sliding dynamics of the edge-pulled nanoribbons is found to be determined by the interplay between in-plane ribbon elasticity and interfacial lattice mismatch. This results in an unusual dependence of the friction-force on the ribbon's length, exhibiting an initial linear rise that levels-off above a junction dependent threshold value dictated by the pre-slip stress distribution within the slider. As part …
We present electrical transport measurements of a van-der-Waals heterostructure consisting of a graphene nanoribbon separated by a thin boron nitride layer from a micron-sized graphene sheet. The interplay between the two layers is discussed in terms of screening or, alternatively, quantum capacitance. The ribbon can be tuned into the transport gap by applying gate voltages. Multiple sites of localized charge leading to Coulomb blockade are observed in agreement with previous experiments. Due to the strong capacitive coupling between the ribbon and the graphene top layer sheet, the evolution o…
Recently, two-dimensional nanostructures consisting of alternating graphene and boron nitride (BN) domains have been synthesized. These systems possess interesting electronic and mechanical properties, with potential applications in electronics and optical devices. Here, we perform a first-principles investigation of models of BN-C hybrid monolayers and nanoribbons deposited on the Cu(111) surface, a substrate used for their growth in said experiments. For the sake of comparison, we also consider BN and BC2N nanostructures. We show that BN and BC2N monolayers bind weakly to Cu(111), whereas mo…
We present first-principles calculations of quantum transport in chemically doped graphene nanoribbons with a width of up to 4 nm. The presence of boron and nitrogen impurities is shown to yield resonant backscattering, whose features are strongly dependent on the symmetry and the width of the ribbon, as well as the position of the dopants. Full suppression of backscattering is obtained on the pi-pi* plateau when the impurity preserves the mirror symmetry of armchair ribbons. Further, an unusual acceptor-donor transition is observed in zig-zag ribbons. These unconventional doping effects could…
Very recently, borophene has been attracting extensive and ongoing interest as the new wonder material with structural polymorphism and superior attributes, showing that the structural imperfection of line defects (LDs) occurs widely at the interface between $ν_{1/5}$ ($χ_3$) and $ν_{1/6}$ ($β_{12}$) boron sheets. Motivated by these experiments, here we present a theoretical study of electron transport through two-terminal disordered borophene nanoribbons (BNRs) with random distribution of LDs. Our results indicate that LDs could strongly affect the electron transport properties of BNRs. In th…
Impact of Valley Degeneracy on Thermoelectric Properties of Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons with Staggered Sublattice Potentials and Transverse Electric Fields
Theoretical investigation of two-dimensional semiconductor nanoribbons and nanoparticles for tailored light--matter interactions
University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）；POLIMA—Center for Polariton-driven Light-Matter Interactions, University of Southern Denmark（POLIMA——极化子驱动光-物质相互作用中心，南丹麦大学）；D-IAS—Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark（D-IAS——丹麦高级研究院，南丹麦大学）
Bilayer graphene nanoribbon with zigzag edge is investigated with the tight binding model. Two stacking structures, alpha and beta, are considered. The band splitting is seen in the alpha structure, while the splitting in the wave number direction is found in the beta structure. The local density of states in the beta structure tend to avoid sites where interlayer hopping interactions are present. The calculation is extended to the boron-carbon-nitride systems. The qualitative properties persist when zigzag edge atoms are replaced with borons and nitrogens.
Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is drawing increasing attention as an insulator and substrate material to develop next generation graphene-based electronic devices. In this paper, we investigate the quantum transport in heterostructures consisting of a few atomic layers thick hBN film sandwiched between graphene nanoribbon electrodes. We show a gate-controllable vertical transistor exhibiting strong negative differential resistance (NDR) effect with multiple resonant peaks, which stay pronounced for various device dimensions. We find two distinct mechanisms that are responsible for NDR, dependin…
The atomically-precise controlled synthesis of graphene stripes embedded in hexagonal boron nitride opens up new possibilities for the construction of nanodevices with applications in sensing. Here, we explore properties related to electronic structure and quantum transport of a graphene nanoroad embedded in hexagonal boron nitride, using a combination of density functional theory and the non-equilibrium Green's functions method to calculate the electric conductance. We find that the graphene nanoribbon signature is preserved in the transmission spectra and that the local current is mainly con…
Based on first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we present a comparative study of the elec- tronic structures of ultranarrow zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) embedded in hexagonal boron nitride (BN) sheet and fully hydrogenated graphene (graphane) as a function of their width N (the number of zigzag C chains composing the ZGNRs). We find that ZGNRs/BN have the nonmagnetic ground state except at N = 5 and 6 with a weakly stabilized half-semimetallic state, whereas ZGNRs/graphane with N >= 2 exhibit a strong antiferromagnetic coupling between ferromagnetically ordered edge s…
One notable manifestation of the peculiar edge-localized states in zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zGNRs) is the p-type (n-type) characteristics of nitrogen (boron) edge-doped GNRs, and such behavior was so far considered to be exclusive for zGNRs. Carrying out first-principles electronic structure and quantum transport calculations, we herein show that the donor-acceptor transition behavior can also arise in the B/N edge-doped armchair GNRs (aGNRs) by introducing a bipolar P codopant atom into the energetically most favorable nearest neighbor edge sites. The n-type (p-type) transport properties …
We propose an electromechanical scheme where the electronic degrees of freedom of boron vacancy color centers hosted by a hexagonal boron nitride nanoribbon are coupled for quantum information processing. The mutual coupling of color centers is provided via their coupling to the mechanical motion of the ribbon, which in turn stems from the local strain. The coupling strengths are computed by performing ab-initio calculations. The density functional theory (DFT) results for boron vacancy centers on boron nitride monolayers reveal a huge strain susceptibility. In our analysis, we take into accou…
The Effect of Twisting Angle on the Electronic Properties and Electron Transport and Hall Effect in the Twisted Circular and Rectangular Graphene and Graphene/Boron-Nitride Channels
Knowledge of the topology of the electronic ground state of materials has led to deep insights to novel phenomena such as the integer quantum Hall effect and fermion-number fractionalization, as well as other properties of matter. Joining two insulators of different topological classes produces fascinating boundary states in the band gap. Another exciting recent development is the bottom-up synthesis (from molecular precursors) of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomic precision control of their edge and width. Here we connect these two fields, and show for the first time that semiconducting …
Despite a rich choice of two-dimensional materials, which exists these days, heterostructures, both vertical (van der Waals) and in-plane, offer an unprecedented control over the properties and functionalities of the resulted structures. Thus, planar heterostructures allow p-n junctions between different two-dimensional semiconductors and graphene nanoribbons with well-defined edges; and vertical heterostructures resulted in the observation of superconductivity in purely carbon-based systems and realisation of vertical tunnelling transistors. Here we demonstrate simultaneous use of in-plane an…
