Liquid phase mass production of air-stable black phosphorus/phospholipids nanocomposite with ultralow tunneling barrier

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple liquid-phase method for mass producing air-stable black phosphorus/phospholipids nanocomposites with ultralow tunneling barriers, enhancing their stability and potential in electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Contribution

A novel one-step liquid-phase process for mass producing air-stable black phosphorus nanocomposites with ultralow tunneling barriers, applicable to other 2D materials.

Findings

Nanocomposite exhibits ultralow tunneling barrier for charge carriers.

Devices show stable electrical and opto-electrical performance in ambient conditions.

Method is generalizable to other air-sensitive 2D materials.

Abstract

Few-layer black phosphorus (FLBP), a recently discovered two-dimensional semiconductor, has attracted substantial attention in the scientific and technical communities due to its great potential in electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, reactivity of FLBP flakes with ambient species limits its direct applications. Among various methods to passivate FLBP in ambient environment, nanocomposites mixing FLBP flakes with stable matrix may be one of the most promising approaches for industry applications. Here, we report a simple one-step procedure to mass produce air-stable FLBP/phospholipids nanocomposite in liquid phase. The resultant nanocomposite is found to have ultralow tunneling barrier for charge carriers which can be described by an Efros-Shklovskii variable range hopping mechanism. Devices made from such mass-produced FLBP/phospholipids nanocomposite show highly stable electrical conductivity and opto-electrical response in ambient conditions, indicating its promising applications in both electronic and optoelectronic applications. This method could also be generalized to the mass production of nanocomposites consisting of other air-sensitive two-dimensional materials, such as FeSe, NbSe2, WTe2, etc.