Hyperhoneycomb boron nitride with anisotropic mechanical, electronic and optical properties

Boron nitride structures have excellent thermal and chemical stabilities. Based on state-of-art theoretical calculations, we propose a wide gap semiconducting BN crystal with a three-dimensional hyperhoneycomb structure (Hp-BN), which is both mechanically and thermodynamically stable. Our calculated results show that Hp-BN has a higher bulk modulus and a smaller energy gap as compared to c-BN. Moreover, due to the unique bonding structure, Hp-BN exhibits anisotropic electronic and optical properties. It has great adsorption in the ultraviolet region, but it is highly transparent in the visible and infrared region, suggesting that the Hp-BN crystal could have potential applications in electronic and optical devices.