Abstract
This paper reports on the synthesis and electrical properties 2-dimensional boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs). Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Raman scattering, and XRD have been used to characterize the obtained BNNSs. The average size of continuous BNNS is more than 200 mu m(2). Each BNNS has clear-cut shapes at the edge with an exact 120 degrees angle at the corners that are directly related to high quality of crystalline structures. However, once beyond a critical thickness, continuous growth yields an opaque boron nitride layer/sheet with random edge structure at the surface of the sample. This clearly indicates that to simply increase deposition duration does not help to have mass production of high-quality BNNSs. After synthesis, electrical properties of different thicknesses BNNSs are characterized, from which the similar order (rho similar to 10(6) ohm-m) of the resistivities are obtained. This value is much lower than 10(13) ohm-m of commercial pyrolytic BN bulk materials. In contrast in super thin BNNS cases, its resistivity dramatically drops down to 4.2 x 10(2) Omega-m, indicating the electrical properties of super thin BNNSs are dominated by the quantum tunneling effect.