Figure 3: Mechanism for the substitution from graphene to h-BN.
From: Direct chemical conversion of graphene to boron- and nitrogen- and carbon-containing atomic layers
The carbon, nitrogen, boron, oxygen and hydrogen atoms are in grey, blue, green, red and white, respectively. (a) CVD (chemical vapour deposition) graphene with adsorbed OH groups, introduced either from dissociated boric acid or intrinsic in graphene. (b) Substituting OH-adsorbed C atoms with N atoms. (c) Nucleation of BN domain from the embedded N atoms by BN substitutions, releasing a C2H4 molecule at each step. (d) Initial BN domains prefer a triangle shape. (e) Further growth gets the BN domains in an irregular shape by merging with neighboring domains. (f) BN domains merge to achieve fully converted h-BN.
