First-principles study of coronene adsorption on hexagonal boron nitride substrate

•The adsorption energy of coronene on hexagonal boron nitride substrate has been calculated using the first-principles calculation.•The van der Waals interaction is treated within the DFT-D3 method.•The adsorption energy of the AB-stacked configuration of coronene on h-BN is slightly larger than the adsorption energy of that on graphene substrate.•The AB-stacked coronene on h-BN can be pinned to a specific in-plane rotation angle at room temperature.•A stable configuration from the DFT-D3 method can be understood in terms of the projected overlap area between coronene and substrate.