Ultrathin layers of graphene, h-BN and other honeycomb structures

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Since ancient times, pure carbon materials have been familiar in human society—not only diamonds in jewellery and graphite in pencils, but also charcoal and coal which have been used for centuries as fuel for living and industry. Carbon fibers are stronger, tougher and lighter than steel and increase material efficiency because of their lower weight. Today, carbon fibers and related composite materials are used to make the frames of bicycles, cars and even airplane parts. The two-dimensional allotrope, now called graphene, is just a single layer of carbon atoms, locked together in a strongly bonded honeycomb lattice. In plane, graphene is stiffer than diamond, but out-of-plane it is soft, like rubber. It is virtually invisible, may conduct electricity (heat) better than copper and weighs next to nothing.Carbon compounds with two carbon atoms as a base, such as graphene, graphite or diamond, have isoelectronic sister compounds made of boron–nitrogen pairs: hexagonal and cubic boron nitride, with almost the same lattice constant. Although the two 2D sisters, graphene and h-BN, have the same number of valence electrons, their electronic properties are very different: freestanding h-BN is an insulator, while charge carriers in graphene are highly mobile.The past ten years have seen a great expansion in studies of single-layer and few-layer graphene. This activity has been concerned with the π electron transport in graphene, in electric and magnetic fields. More than 30 years ago, however, single-layer graphene and h-BN on solid surfaces were widely investigated. It was noted that they drastically changed the chemical reactivity of surfaces, and they were known to 'poison' heterogeneous catalysts, to passivate surfaces, to prevent oxidation of surfaces and to act as surfactants. Also, it was realized that the controlled growth of h-BN and graphene on substrates yields the formation of mismatch driven superstructures with peculiar template functionality on the nanometer scale.This special section contains interesting papers on graphene, h-BN and related 'honeycomb' compounds on solid surfaces, which are currently in development. Interfacial interaction strongly modifies the electronic and atomic structures of these overlayer systems and substrate surfaces. In addition, one can recognize a variety of growth phenomena by changing the surface and growth conditions, which are promising as regards fabricating those noble nanosystems. We have great pleasure in acknowledging the enthusiastic response and participation of our invited authors and their diligent preparation of the manuscripts.Ultrathin layers of graphene, h-BN and other honeycomb structures contentsUltrathin layers of graphene, h-BN and other honeycomb structures Thomas Geber and Chuhei OshimaTemplating of arrays of Ru nanoclusters by monolayer graphene/Ru Moirés with different periodicities Eli Sutter, Bin Wang, Peter Albrecht, Jayeeta Lahiri, Marie-Laure Bocquet and Peter SutterControllable p-doping of graphene on Ir(111) by chlorination with FeCl3 N A Vinogradov, K A Simonov, A V Generalov, A S Vinogradov, D V Vyalikh, C Laubschat, N Mårtensson and A B PreobrajenskiOptimizing long-range order, band gap, and group velocities for graphene on close-packed metal surfaces F D Natterer, S Rusponi, M Papagno, C Carbone and H BruneEpitaxial growth of graphene on transition metal surfaces: chemical vapor deposition versus liquid phase deposition Samuel Grandthyll, Stefan Gsell, Michael Weinl, Matthias Schreck, Stefan Hüfner and Frank MüllerHigh-yield boron nitride nanosheets from 'chemical blowing': towards practical applications in polymer composites Xuebin Wang, Amir Pakdel, Chunyi Zhi, Kentaro Watanabe, Takashi Sekiguchi, Dmitri Golberg and Yoshio BandoBCx layers with honeycomb lattices on an NbB2(0001) surface Chuhei OshimaEpitaxial growth of boron-doped graphene by thermal decomposition of B4C Wataru Norimatsu, Koichiro Hirata, Yuta Yamamoto, Shigeo Arai and Michiko KusunokiMechanical exfoliation of epitaxial graphene on Ir(111) enabled by Br2 intercalation Charlotte Herbig, Markus Kaiser, Nedjma Bendiab, Stefan Schumacher, Daniel F Förster, Johann Coraux, Klaus Meerholz, Thomas Michely and Carsten BusseLow energy electron microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy investigation of graphene K L Man and M S AltmanPeriodic overlayers and moiré patterns: theoretical studies of geometric properties Klaus HermannSilicene structures on silver surfaces Hanna Enriquez, Sébastien Vizzini, Abdelkader Kara, Boubekeur Lalmi and Hamid OughaddouContrast inversion of the h-BN nanomesh investigated by nc-AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy S Koch, M Langer, S Kawai, E Meyer and Th GlatzelProbing the electronic structure and optical response of a graphene quantum disk supported on monolayer graphene Wu Zhou, Stephen J Pennycook and Juan-Carlos IdroboMulti-oriented moiré superstructures of graphene on Ir(111): experimental observations and theoretical models Lei Meng, Rongting Wu, Lizhi Zhang, Linfei Li, Shixuan Du, Yeliang Wang and H-J GaoThe physics of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) H Kageshima, H Hibino and S Tanabe