A Perspective on Recent Advances in Phosphorene Functionalization and its Application in Devices

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in phosphorene functionalization, highlighting its potential in electronic, optoelectronic, and catalytic devices, and presents new experimental and theoretical insights into its synthesis, modification, and application.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of phosphorene functionalization techniques and introduces new experimental results on device fabrication and material characterization.

Findings

Successful synthesis and characterization of functionalized phosphorene

Enhanced electrical and optoelectronic properties in devices

Potential catalytic applications demonstrated

Abstract

Phosphorene, the 2D material derived from black phosphorus, has recently attracted a lot of interest for its properties, suitable for applications in material science. In particular, the physical features and the prominent chemical reactivity on its surface render this nanolayered substrate particularly promising for electrical and optoelectronic applications. In addition, being a new potential ligand for metals, it opens the way for a new role of the inorganic chemistry in the 2D world, with special reference to the field of catalysis. The aim of this review is to summarize the state of the art in this subject and to present our most recent results in preparation, functionalization and use of phosphorene and its decorated derivatives. In particular, we discuss several key points, which are currently under investigation: the synthesis, the characterization by theoretical calculations, the high pressure behaviour of black phosphorus, as well as decoration with nanoparticles and encapsulation in polymers. Finally, device fabrication and electrical transport measurements are overviewed on the basis of recent literature and new results collected in our laboratories.