Heterographene BCN phase prepared at high pressures and temperatures: Formation kinetics, structure, and properties

Abstract

We report the structure and some characteristics of powder particles of an h-BCN heterographene phase synthesized from boron-melamine mixtures in the pressure range from 3.5 to 7.0 GPa. This phase has the basic hexagonal boron nitride lattice and contains up to 10 at % carbon uniformly distributed over its sites. The resistivity of the h-BCN phase depends on its structural perfection and ranges from several Ω cm to tens of kΩ cm. This phase is a degenerate semiconductor with an activation energy substantially lower than kT throughout the temperature range studied, from 5 to 300 K.