Influence of point defects on the electronic properties of boron nitride nanosheets

Density functional theory was utilized to study the electronic properties of boron nitride (BN) sheets, taking into account the presence of defects. The structure considered consisted of a central hexagon surrounded by alternating pentagons (three) and heptagons (three). The isocoronene cluster model with an armchair edge was used with three different chemical compositions. In the first structure, three B–B bonds were formed where one B in the dimer was part of the central hexagon. In the second structure, three N–N–N bonds were formed at the periphery of the cluster, around the central hexagon. In the third structure, three N–N bonds were formed in a similar fashion to the first model. Our results indicated that the third structure was the most stable configuration; this exhibited planar geometry, semiconductor behavior, and ionic character. To explore the effects of doping, we replaced B and N atoms with C atoms, considering different atomic positions in the central hexagon. When an N atom was replaced with a C atom, the new structure was a semiconductor, but when a B atom was replaced with a C atom, the new structure was a semimetal. At the same time, the polarity increased, inducing covalent behavior. Replacing two N atoms with two C atoms also resulted in a semiconductor, while replacing two B atoms with two C atoms yielded a semimetal; in both cases the bonding was covalent. When three B (three N) atoms of the central hexagon were replaced with three C atoms, the new structure exhibited a transition to a conductor (remained a semiconductor) with low polarity. When monovacancies (N) and divacancies (B and N) were inserted into the lattice, the system was transformed into a covalent semiconductor. Finally, the electrostatic potential surface was calculated in order to explore intermolecular properties such as the charge distribution, which showed how the reactivity of the boron nitride sheets was affected by doping and orbital hybridization.