Title

Fluorinated h-BN as a magnetic semiconductor

Authors

Sruthi Radhakrishnan, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Deya Das, Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
Atanu Samanta, Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
Carlos A. de Los Reyes, Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Liangzi Deng, Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA.
Lawrence B. Alemany, Shared Equipment Authority, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Thomas K. Weldeghiorghis, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
Valery N. Khabashesku, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Vidya Kochat, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Zehua Jin, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Parambath M. Sudeep, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Angel A. Martí, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Ching-Wu Chu, Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77004, USA.
Ajit Roy, Air Force Research Laboratories, 3005 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA.
Chandra Sekhar Tiwary, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Abhishek K. Singh, Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
Pulickel M. Ajayan, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2017

Abstract

We report the fluorination of electrically insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and the subsequent modification of its electronic band structure to a wide bandgap semiconductor via introduction of defect levels. The electrophilic nature of fluorine causes changes in the charge distribution around neighboring nitrogen atoms in h-BN, leading to room temperature weak ferromagnetism. The observations are further supported by theoretical calculations considering various possible configurations of fluorinated h-BN structure and their energy states. This unconventional magnetic semiconductor material could spur studies of stable two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors. Although the high thermal and chemical stability of h-BN have found a variety of uses, this chemical functionalization approach expands its functionality to electronic and magnetic devices.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Science advances

First Page

e1700842

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