Oxidizing Hexagonal Boron Nitride into Fluorescent Structures by Photodissociated Directional Oxygen Radical

Modifying the wide band gap semiconductor hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) can bring new chances in photonics. By virtue of the solvothermal/hydrothermal oxidation or functionalization, hBN can be converted into fluorescent nanodots. Until now, it has been a big challenge to drily oxidize hBN and turn it into bright fluorescent structures due to its superior chemical stability. Here, we report the oxidation of multilayer hBN into fluorescent structures by ultraviolet (UV, λ = 172 nm) photodissociated directional oxygen radical [O(