High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We report the growth of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by high-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (HT-MBE). Using a variety of characterisation techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy (AC-STEM-EELS), we demonstrated the epitaxy of boron nitride on the external surfaces of MWCNTs. This process formed coaxial heterostructures consisting of an inner multiwalled carbon nanotube coated with a few monolayers of hBN. The high structural quality of the carbon surface of the MWCNTs enabled smooth, uniform deposition of several monolayers of hBN. We proposed nucleation at defects on the MWCNT surface, followed by a step-flow-like "wrapping" mechanism for the hBN epitaxy around the carbon nanotubes. Additionally, boron nitride nanotubes grew from the open step edges at the tips of the multiwalled carbon nanotubes, facilitating the formation of circular carbon nanotube - boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) heterojunctions. Spatially-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy in the UV-C spectral range confirmed the excellent structural quality of the hBN monolayers on the CNTs. The PL spectrum of BNNTs exhibited a line around 5.8 eV, which corresponds to the phonon replica in bulk hBN associated with phonon-assisted recombination involving optical phonons. This PL spectrum provides the first evidence of intrinsic radiative exciton recombination in quasi-one-dimensional hBN, with an estimated indirect bandgap of approximately 5.95 eV.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{bradford2026hightemperature,
  title = {{High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on carbon nanotubes}},
  author = {Jonathan Bradford and William. J. Cull and Tin S. Cheng and Amy F. M. Collins and Christopher J. Mellor and Andrei N. Khlobystov and Alexandre Gloter and Alexandra Ibanez and Bernard Gil and Pierre Valvin and Guillaume Cassabois and Alberto Zobelli and Sergei V. Novikov},
  journal = {Nanoscale},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1039/d6nr01376g},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05853630v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - High-temperature molecular beam epitaxy of hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on carbon nanotubes
AU  - Jonathan Bradford
AU  - William. J. Cull
AU  - Tin S. Cheng
AU  - Amy F. M. Collins
AU  - Christopher J. Mellor
AU  - Andrei N. Khlobystov
AU  - Alexandre Gloter
AU  - Alexandra Ibanez
AU  - Bernard Gil
AU  - Pierre Valvin
AU  - Guillaume Cassabois
AU  - Alberto Zobelli
AU  - Sergei V. Novikov
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/05
JO  - Nanoscale
DO  - 10.1039/d6nr01376g
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05853630v1
AB  - We report the growth of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by high-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (HT-MBE). Using a variety of characterisation techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy (AC-STEM-EELS), we demonstrated the epitaxy of boron nitride on the external surfaces of MWCNTs. This process formed coaxial heterostructures consisting of an inner multiwalled carbon nanotube coated with a few monolayers of hBN. The high structural quality of the carbon surface of the MWCNTs enabled smooth, uniform deposition of several monolayers of hBN. We proposed nucleation at defects on the MWCNT surface, followed by a step-flow-like "wrapping" mechanism for the hBN epitaxy around the carbon nanotubes. Additionally, boron nitride nanotubes grew from the open step edges at the tips of the multiwalled carbon nanotubes, facilitating the formation of circular carbon nanotube - boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) heterojunctions. Spatially-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy in the UV-C spectral range confirmed the excellent structural quality of the hBN monolayers on the CNTs. The PL spectrum of BNNTs exhibited a line around 5.8 eV, which corresponds to the phonon replica in bulk hBN associated with phonon-assisted recombination involving optical phonons. This PL spectrum provides the first evidence of intrinsic radiative exciton recombination in quasi-one-dimensional hBN, with an estimated indirect bandgap of approximately 5.95 eV.
SN  - 2040-3364
SN  - 2040-3372
ER  -

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