Anisotropic Etching of Hexagonal Boron Nitride and Graphene: Question of Edge Terminations.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been established as the most effective way to grow large area two-dimensional materials. Direct study of the etching process can reveal subtleties of this competing with the growth reaction and thus provide the necessary details of the overall growth mechanism. Here we investigate hydrogen-induced etching of hBN and graphene and compare the results with the classical kinetic Wulff construction model. Formation of the anisotropically etched holes in the center of hBN and graphene single crystals was observed along with the changes in the crystals' circumference. We show that the edges of triangular holes in hBN crystals formed at regular etching conditions are parallel to B-terminated zigzags, opposite to the N-terminated zigzag edges of hBN triangular crystals. The morphology of the etched hBN holes is affected by a disbalance of the B/N ratio upon etching and can be shifted toward the anticipated from the Wulff model N-terminated zigzag by etching in a nitrogen buffer gas instead of a typical argon. For graphene, etched hexagonal holes are terminated by zigzag, while the crystal circumference is gradually changing from a pure zigzag to a slanted angle resulting in dodecagons.

Evaluation of transparent carbon nanotube networks of homogeneous electronic type.

In this report, we present a description of the optical and electronic properties of as-deposited, annealed, and chemically treated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) films showing metallic or semiconducting behavior. As-deposited and annealed semiconducting SWNT films were significantly less conductive than metallic SWNT films; however, chemical treatment of semiconducting SWNT films resulted in sheet resistance values as low as 60 Omega x sq(-1) in comparison to 76 Omega x sq(-1) for similarly processed metallic SWNT films. We conclude that the greater improvement of electrical conductivity observed in the semiconducting SWNT film results from the difference in the density of available electronic states between metallic and semiconducting SWNTs. A corroborative investigation of the change in surface work function and the chemical composition of SWNT films, as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, is provided to support these conclusions and to give new perspective to the formation of electronically homogeneous SWNT networks.