Oxygen-suppressed selective growth of monolayer hexagonal boron nitride on copper twin crystals

Controlled growth of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with desired properties is essential for its wide range of applications. Here, we systematically carried out the chemical vapor deposition of monolayer h-BN on Cu twin crystals. It was found that h-BN nucleated and grew preferentially and simultaneously on the narrow twin crystal strips present in the Cu substrates. The density functional theory calculations revealed that the introduction of oxygen could efficiently tune the selectivity. This is because of the reduction in the dehydrogenation barrier of the precursor molecules by the introduction of oxygen. Our findings throw light on the direct growth of functional h-BN nanoribbons on nano-twinned crystal strips and switching of the growth behavior of h-BN films by oxygen.