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Liquid exfoliation of solvent-stabilized few-layer black phosphorus for applications beyond electronics.

Authors :
Hanlon D
Backes C
Doherty E
Cucinotta CS
Berner NC
Boland C
Lee K
Harvey A
Lynch P
Gholamvand Z
Zhang S
Wang K
Moynihan G
Pokle A
Ramasse QM
McEvoy N
Blau WJ
Wang J
Abellan G
Hauke F
Hirsch A
Sanvito S
O'Regan DD
Duesberg GS
Nicolosi V
Coleman JN
Source :
Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2015 Oct 15; Vol. 6, pp. 8563. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Oct 15.
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

Few-layer black phosphorus (BP) is a new two-dimensional material which is of great interest for applications, mainly in electronics. However, its lack of environmental stability severely limits its synthesis and processing. Here we demonstrate that high-quality, few-layer BP nanosheets, with controllable size and observable photoluminescence, can be produced in large quantities by liquid phase exfoliation under ambient conditions in solvents such as N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone (CHP). Nanosheets are surprisingly stable in CHP, probably due to the solvation shell protecting the nanosheets from reacting with water or oxygen. Experiments, supported by simulations, show reactions to occur only at the nanosheet edge, with the rate and extent of the reaction dependent on the water/oxygen content. We demonstrate that liquid-exfoliated BP nanosheets are potentially useful in a range of applications from ultrafast saturable absorbers to gas sensors to fillers for composite reinforcement.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2041-1723
Volume :
6
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Nature communications
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
26469634
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9563