Novel macroscopic BC3 honeycomb sheet

We have successfully grown a uniform BC3 honeycomb sheet with high crystalline quality over the entire macroscopic area of the NbB2 (0001) surface by carbon-substituted technique in a boron honeycomb. This is the first macroscopic uniform sheet of single-crystal BC3 with a monolayer thickness. So far, only BC3 micro-crystals with radii of a few nanometres were produced. The properties of the sheet have been investigated by using XPS, AES, LEED, STM, ARUPS and HREELS. All the experimental data and the theoretical calculations, which are concerning with atomic structure, chemical concentration, and phonon structure, indicated that the uniform BC3 honeycomb sheet was grown in an epitaxial manner to the substrate lattice. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.