Synthesis of carbon-doped boron nitride nanosheets and enhancement of their room-temperature ferromagnetic properties

Introducing ferromagnetism in light-element materials that contain only s and p electrons has captured much attention for their possible application in spintronic devices. In this study, we explored the ferromagnetic properties of carbon-doped boron nitride (B-C-N) nanosheets obtained by high-temperature annealing of a stacked mixture of boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) and graphene prepared by urea-assisted aqueous exfoliation. Three types of BCN nanosheets, referred to as BCN (1:1), BCN (1:2) and BCN (1:3), were successfully synthesized through multistep processes. Strong ferromagnetic responses were observed in the BCN nanosheets with a saturation magnetization of 0.142 emu/g at room temperature. It was found that the thickness of the precursors plays a critical role in the determination of the ferromagnetic properties of the BCN nanosheets. Our results provide a new possibility for the manipulation of ferromagnetism in light-element systems. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.