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

Hanlon D, Backes C, Doherty E, Cucinotta CS, Berner N, 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, Hauke F, Hirsch A, Abellan Saez G, Sanvito S, O’Regan DD, Duesberg GS, Nicolosi V, Coleman JN (2015)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2015

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 6

Article Number: 8563

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9563

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.

Authors with CRIS profile

Frank Hauke Zentralinstitut für Neue Materialien und Prozesstechnik Andreas Hirsch Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie II Gonzalo Abellan Saez Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie II

Involved external institutions

Trinity College Dublin IE Ireland (IE) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 CN China (CN)

How to cite

APA:

Hanlon, D., Backes, C., Doherty, E., Cucinotta, C.S., Berner, N., Boland, C.,... Coleman, J.N. (2015). Liquid exfoliation of solvent-stabilized few-layer black phosphorus for applications beyond electronics. Nature Communications, 6. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9563

MLA:

Hanlon, Damien, et al. "Liquid exfoliation of solvent-stabilized few-layer black phosphorus for applications beyond electronics." Nature Communications 6 (2015).

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