title: In situ TEM visualization of superior nanomechanical flexibility of shear-exfoliated phosphorene.
abstract: Recently discovered atomically thin black phosphorus (called phosphorene) holds great promise for applications in flexible nanoelectronic devices. Experimentally identifying and characterizing nanomechanical properties of phosphorene are challenging, but also potentially rewarding. This work combines for the first time in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and an in situ micro-manipulation system to directly visualize the nanomechanical behaviour of individual phosphorene nanoflakes. We demonstrate that the phosphorene nanoflakes can be easily bent, scrolled, and stretched, showing remarkable mechanical flexibility rather than fracturing. An out-of-plane plate-like bending mechanism and in-plane tensile strain of up to 34% were observed. Moreover, a facile liquid-phase shear exfoliation route has been developed to produce such mono-layer and few-layer phosphorene nanoflakes in organic solvents using only a household kitchen blender. The effects of surface tensions of the applied solvents on the ratio of average length and thickness (L/T) of the nanoflakes were studied systematically. The results reported here will pave the way for potential industrial-scale applications of flexible phosphorene nanoelectronic devices.
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. fxu@seu.edu.cn slt@seu.edu.cn and Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Internet of Things, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. fxu@seu.edu.cn slt@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuangying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. fxu@seu.edu.cn slt@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Electronic Science & Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. bhge@iphy.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Binghui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. fxu@seu.edu.cn slt@seu.edu.cn and Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacture, Joint Research Institute of Southeast University and Monash University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Litao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun