A molecular dynamics study of the mechanical properties of h-BCN monolayer using a modified Tersoff interatomic potential

Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigate the mechanical properties of hexagonal BCN monolayer, a newly synthesized two-dimensional material with an atom ratio of B/C/N = 1:1:1. The Tersoff potential is modified to get good agreement between predicted and measured fracture strengths of graphene. With this modified Tersoff potential, we perform extensive MD simulations to study the effect of temperature, strain rate and vacancy defect on the mechanical properties of h-BCN. It is found that h-BCN is a strong material with fracture strength of 81.4–93.5 GPa, albeit ∼35% lower than that of graphene. Similar to graphene, temperature has strong effect on the mechanical properties of h-BCN. As the temperature increases from 10 K to 1300 K, the fracture strength and strain of h-BCN drops by 55% and 62%, respectively. The strain rate is found to have a moderate effect. When the strain rate increases from 0.00002 to 0.0125 ps⁻¹, the fracture strength and strain of h-BCN increases 6.1% and 12%, respectively. As for the atomic defect, a very small concentration (0.028%) of vacancy in h-BCN is able to cause a 28% reduction in fracture strength and a 35.5% reduction in fracture strain. These findings have significance for its future applications in nanodevices.