Large-sized single-crystal h-BN domains with a lateral size up to 100 μm are synthesized on Ni foils by ion beam sputtering deposition. The nucleation density of h-BN is dramatically decreased by reducing the concentrations of both active sites and species on the Ni surface through a brief in situ pretreatment of the substrate and optimization of the growth parameters, enabling the growth of large-sized domains.

Advanced Materials, 2015