Molecular interaction with defected h-BN

Abstract

Density functional theory simulations studied molecular (Phenol, pyridine, oxygen, and carbon monoxide) interactions with defected h-BN (boron nitride) monolayer structures. The simulation comprised of a supercell modelling the monolayers which contained mono-vacancies (boron or nitrogen) and Stone-Wales defect. Predictions from this analysis indicate that h-BN with vacancies are more reactive to CO and phenol when compared with the Stone-Wales defected configurations. Reacted products entail semiconductor characteristics with a band gap residing in the range 2.6 to 3.96 eV. Outcomes herein reveal a relatively strong interaction of phenol and pyridine, in comparison with smaller diatomic O2 and CO, with defect BN surfaces. A wide array of properties was computed to elucidate an insight into the observed interactive behaviour, including Bader charge’s; local atomic spin polarisation magnetic moments in the vacancy region, and energy band gap of the reaction outcome. These results should be useful in applications that target deployment of BN-based materials in optoelectronic devices, physical–chemical sensors.