title: Liquid exfoliation of solvent-stabilized few-layer black phosphorus for applications beyond electronics.
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.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hanlon
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Backes
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Evie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Clotilde S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cucinotta
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Nina C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9405-0599
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Berner
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boland
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Kangho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gholamvand
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: Saifeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: Kangpeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moynihan
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Anuj
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pokle
authors.affiliation: SuperSTEM Laboratory, STFC Daresbury Campus, Daresbury WA4 4AD, UK.
authors.forename: Quentin M
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Ramasse
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Niall
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McEvoy
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Werner J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9666-7058
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Blau
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Chair of Organic Chemistry II and Institute of Advanced Materials and Processes (ZMP), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Henkestrasse 42, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abellan
authors.affiliation: Chair of Organic Chemistry II and Institute of Advanced Materials and Processes (ZMP), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Henkestrasse 42, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hauke
authors.affiliation: Chair of Organic Chemistry II and Institute of Advanced Materials and Processes (ZMP), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Henkestrasse 42, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanvito
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: O'Regan
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Georg S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Duesberg
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nicolosi
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.|CRANN and AMBER Research Centres, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: Jonathan N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Coleman