Growth of seed layer-free vertically aligned boron nitride films on glass by low-temperature hydrothermal method: effect of surface treatments

Abstract

Hydrothermal synthesis has been used to produce one-step boron nitride (BN) films on glass surfaces at low temperatures. The effect of various modifications (acidic and alkaline etching, sandpaper abrading) of glass surfaces on the morphological and optical properties of the films was investigated using different characterisation techniques. SEM images confirmed the formation of nanoflower morphologies, and BN nanolayers with a 200-300 nm diameter were grown vertically on the glass surface. XPS, FT-IR, and XRD analysis proved the formation of the boron nitride phase on glass surfaces. While changing the etching time did not significantly change the morphology, it significantly affected the photoluminescence properties. It was determined that the most effective etchings were hydrofluoric acid (HF) and alkaline etching. The films formed with these modifications had fewer defects and were more homogeneous. Moreover, this one-step and easy method proves that boron nitride nanolayers can be deposited with different surface modifications without forming a seed layer on the glass surface.