Towards chirality control of graphene nanoribbons embedded in hexagonal boron nitride
- Author(s)
- Hui Shan Wang, Lingxiu Chen, Kenan Elibol, Li He, Haomin Wang, Chen Chen, Chengxin Jiang, Chen Li, Tianru Wu, Chun Xiao Cong, Timothy J. Pennycook, Giacomo Argentero, Daoli Zhang, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Wenya Wei, Qinghong Yuan, Jannik C. Meyer, Xiaoming Xie
- Abstract
Oriented trenches are created in h-BN using different catalysts, and used as templates to grow seamlessly integrated armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons with chirality-dependent electrical and magnetic conductance properties.The integrated in-plane growth of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) could provide a promising route to achieve integrated circuitry of atomic thickness. However, fabrication of edge-specific GNRs in the lattice of h-BN still remains a significant challenge. Here we developed a two-step growth method and successfully achieved sub-5-nm-wide zigzag and armchair GNRs embedded in h-BN. Further transport measurements reveal that the sub-7-nm-wide zigzag GNRs exhibit openings of the bandgap inversely proportional to their width, while narrow armchair GNRs exhibit some fluctuation in the bandgap-width relationship. An obvious conductance peak is observed in the transfer curves of 8- to 10-nm-wide zigzag GNRs, while it is absent in most armchair GNRs. Zigzag GNRs exhibit a small magnetic conductance, while armchair GNRs have much higher magnetic conductance values. This integrated lateral growth of edge-specific GNRs in h-BN provides a promising route to achieve intricate nanoscale circuits.
- Organisation(s)
- Physics of Nanostructured Materials, Department of Lithospheric Research
- External organisation(s)
- University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, University of Antwerp, Fudan University, Natl Inst Mat Sci, National Institute for Materials Science, Res Ctr Funct Mat, East China Normal University, University of Queensland, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Trinity College Dublin
- Journal
- Nature Materials
- Volume
- 20
- Pages
- 202–207
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 1476-1122
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00806-2
- Publication date
- 09-2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 210004 Nanomaterials
- Keywords
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/towards-chirality-control-of-graphene-nanoribbons-embedded-in-hexagonal-boron-nitride(7eb1efd2-0399-499c-a127-ec3d2c788f34).html