Epitaxy Beyond Periodic Lattices: Interfacial Modulation Enabled by Defect State 2D Materials

Remote epitaxy (RE) utilizes substrate polarity to guide the growth of single-crystal films across 2D materials (2DMs) such as graphene, offering a promising strategy for the heterogeneous integration of materials and devices. However, the effect of structural characteristics in 2DMs on RE remains unexplored. Here, the critical impact of defects in 2DMs on RE is reported. It is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that RE can be realized on defective h-BN (DBN), but not on pristine h-BN. We identified a defect-induced charge transfer enhancement (DCTE) effect in DBN, which significantly enhances electron delocalization and consequently increases interfacial charge transfer. This enhanced coupling, facilitated by 2D lattice defects, provides the interaction necessary for remote epitaxial alignment beyond conventional lattice-matching considerations. This phenomenon is further confirmed in other materials with remote epitaxial structures, expanding the understanding of the interface coupling mechanism in RE. Moreover, the DCTE effect improves the detection sensitivity of SDBN/GaN template heterojunction detectors. These findings break through the conventional epitaxy paradigm and highlight a new mechanism for remote epitaxial growth, paving the way for novel multi-dimensional material integration approaches.