Spectroscopic Investigation on Liquid-exfoliated Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nano Particles

Abstract

Although hexagonal boron nitride and graphene in two-dimensional materials have similar structures, there are great differences in their electronic structures. hBN has a huge energy gap (~ 6 eV) and can be regarded as a semiconductor or insulator, while graphene can be used as a conductor because of its zero-energy gap. Because of their high degree of lattice matching, they often overlap each other and are used as conductive layer and insulating layer in the material process of electronic components. In this study, we tried to prepare nano-sized hexagonal boron nitride particles by a relatively simple method "liquid-assisted ball milling and ultrasonic exfoliating" to solve the high-cost problem of the industrialization of hBN. We prepared hBN nanoparticles using zirconium milling balls, water-proof sonication and ultrasonic crusher, then studied the essential changes to their electronic structures and sizes through Atomic Force Microscope and various spectroscopic methods such as PL, PLE, absorption and Raman spectrum. It helps us to find ways to control the electronic structure and energy gap of hBN, which would help the development of advanced semiconductor manufacturing applications and advanced quantum light sources.