What are the environmental applications of epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride? Lately, we observed that hBN bubbles are formed upon electron beam irradiation. Such a structure can effectively store molecular hydrogen for weeks and is resistant to even extreme mechanical deformation. Hydrogen generation is triggered by the radiolysis of interfacial water. We believe that hBN can be applied in innovative hydrogen generation and storage schemes and help in the development of future green energy systems. For more details, take a look at our recent work: Epitaxial Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Hydrogen Generation by Radiolysis of Interfacial Water that was published in Nano Letters (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04434)
Our team is often wondering: how the substrate affect the final growth of two-dimensional layers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)? In our latest work, we discuss the importance of the sapphire substrate off-cut angle on the epitaxially grown material. We found out that the off-cut angle of 1° clearly yields the highest quality of h-BN layers. For more details check out our article: Effective substrate for the growth of multilayer h-BN on sapphire – substrate off-cut, pre-growth, and post-growth conditions in metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy recently published in 2D materials https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1583/acb44a/meta
During our efforts to produce high quality epitaxial hexagonal boron nitride, we encounter many questions about its characteristics. In our last work, we try to answer the question of how hBN layers interact with their substrate and how their properties are influenced by defects. To do so, we investigated our material with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in the temperature range of 160–540 K. Surprisingly, we observed a giant increase in the E1u phonon energy in a narrow temperature range and explain it in terms of strain generation resulting from charge redistribution between shallow traps and different defects. Our results were published in Nanotechnology journal: Temperature induced giant shift of phonon energy in epitaxial boron nitride layers
In September we took part in two graphene related conferences. We presented our newest results at Graphene Week 2022 (5-9.09.22, Munich, Germany) and 7th Polish Conference “Graphene and other 2D materials” (12-14.09.22, Łódź, Poland). Our PhD student Katarzyna Ludwiczak was distincted by jury in a best oral presentation competition. Congratulations!
We are pleased to announce that our team will present the results of research conducted in our group at the “Jaszowiec 2021” conference. We will present both the results of growth and technological processes with the use of hexagonal boron nitride. We will also present other results from the field of 2D materials.
Our team has developed a method for the precise etching of germanium in the process of photocorrosion and production of graphene membranes on a micro scale. The developed technology has been the subject of patent application and has been published in the renowned 2D materials journal: Suspended graphene on germanium: selective local etching via laser-induced photocorrosion of germanium.