Stable Aqueous Dispersions of Optically and Electronically Active Phosphorene

Abstract

Understanding and exploiting the remarkable optical and electronic properties of phosphorene require mass production methods that avoid chemical degradation. While solution-based strategies have been developed for scalable exfoliation of black phosphorus, these techniques have thus far employed anhydrous organic solvents in an effort to minimize exposure to known oxidants, but at the cost of limited exfoliation yield and flake size distribution. Here, we present an alternative phosphorene production method based on surfactant-assisted exfoliation and post-processing of black phosphorus in deoxygenated water. From comprehensive microscopic and spectroscopic analysis, this approach is shown to yield phosphorene dispersions that are stable, highly concentrated, and comparable to micromechanically exfoliated phosphorene in structure and chemistry. Due to the high exfoliation efficiency of this process, the resulting phosphorene flakes are thinner than anhydrous organic solvent dispersions, thus allowing the observation of layer-dependent photoluminescence down to the monolayer limit. Furthermore, to demonstrate preservation of electronic properties following solution processing, the aqueous-exfoliated phosphorene flakes are employed in field-effect transistors with high drive currents and current modulation ratios. Overall, this method enables the isolation and mass production of few-layer phosphorene, which will accelerate ongoing efforts to realize a diverse range of phosphorene-based applications.

arXiv comment4 figures, 37 pages, including supporting information in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Degradation of Black Phosphorus (BP): The Role of Oxygen and Water
• A general approach for the synthesis of two-dimensional binary compounds
• The Role of H2O and O2 Molecules and Phosphorus Vacancies in the Structure Instability of Phosphorene
• Charge Transfer and Functionalization of Monolayer InSe by Physisorption of Small Molecules for Gas Sensing
• Exfoliation of Few-Layer Black Phosphorus in Low-Boiling-Point Solvents and Its Application in Li-Ion Batteries
• Large Area Fabrication of Semiconducting Phosphorene by Langmuir Blodgett Assembly
• A First-Principles Study on the Adsorption of Small Molecules on Arsenene: Comparison of Oxidation Kinetics in Arsenene, Antimonene, Phosphorene and InSe
• Tailoring electronic properties of multilayer phosphorene by siliconization
• Evolution of Intrinsic Vacancies and Prolonged Lifetime of Vacancy Clusters in Black Phosphorene
• Visible Out-of-plane Polarized Luminescence and Electronic Resonance from Black Phosphorus
• Liquid phase mass production of air-stable black phosphorus/phospholipids nanocomposite with ultralow tunneling barrier
• Design of Phosphorene for Hydrogen Evolution Performance Comparable to Platinum