Graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are the two major types of layered materials under intensive investigation. However, the zero-bandgap nature of graphene and the relatively low mobility in TMDCs limit their applications. Here we reintroduce black phosphorus (BP), the most stable allotrope of phosphorus with strong intrinsic in-plane anisotropy, to the layered-material family. For 15-nm-thick BP, we measure a Hall mobility of 1,000 and 600 cm 2 V À 1 s À 1 for holes along the light (x) and heavy (y) effective mass directions at 120 K. BP thin films also exhibit large and anisotropic in-plane optical conductivity from 2 to 5 mm. Field-effect transistors using 5 nm BP along x direction exhibit an on-off current ratio exceeding 10 5 , a field-effect mobility of 205 cm 2 V À 1 s À 1 , and good current saturation characteristics all at room temperature. BP shows great potential for thin-film electronics, infrared optoelectronics and novel devices in which anisotropic properties are desirable.

Abstract. The emerging two-dimensional (2D) materials exhibit a wide range of electronic properties, ranging from insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) and tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ), to semi-metallic graphene. The plethora of 2D materials together with their heterostructures, which are free of the traditional "lattice mismatch" issue, brings new opportunities for exploring novel optical phenomena. In this review, we first discuss the optical properties and applications of a variety of 2D materials, followed by two different approaches to enhance their interactions with light: through their integration with external photonic structures and through their intrinsic polaritonic resonances. Finally, we cover a narrow bandgap layered material, black phosphorus, which serendipitously bridges the zero gap graphene and the relatively large-bandgap TMDCs such as MoS 2 and WSe 2 . The combination of these materials and the approaches for enhancing light-matter interaction offers the promise of scientific discoveries and nanophotonics technologies across a wide range of electromagnetic spectrum.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), have been shown to exhibit excellent electrical and optical properties. The semiconducting nature of MoS 2 allows it to overcome the shortcomings of zero-bandgap graphene, while still sharing many of graphene's advantages for electronic and optoelectronic applications. Discrete electronic and optoelectronic components, such as field-effect transistors, sensors and photodetectors made from few-layer MoS 2 show promising performance as potential substitute of Si in conventional electronics and of organic and amorphous Si semiconductors in ubiquitous systems and display applications. An important next step is the fabrication of fully integrated multi-stage circuits and logic building blocks on MoS 2 to demonstrate its capability for complex digital logic and high-frequency ac applications. This paper demonstrates an inverter, a NAND gate, a static random access memory, and a five-stage ring oscillator based on a direct-coupled transistor logic technology. The circuits comprise between two to twelve transistors seamlessly integrated side-byside on a single sheet of bilayer MoS 2 . Both enhancement-mode and depletion-mode transistors were fabricated thanks to the use of gate metals with different work functions. Keywords: molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), Two-dimensional (2D)electronics, integrated circuits, ring oscillator.2 Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) 1 and other members of the transition metal dichalcogenides family, represents the ultimate scaling of material dimension in the vertical direction. Nano-electronic devices built on 2D materials offer many benefits for further miniaturization beyond Moore's Law 2,3 and as a high-mobility option in the emerging field of large-area and low-cost electronics that is currently dominated by low-mobility amorphous silicon 4 and organic semiconductors 5,6 . MoS 2 , a 2D semiconductor material, is also attractive as a potential complement to graphene 7,8,9 for constructing digital circuits on flexible and transparent substrates, while its 1.8 eV bandgap 10,11 is advantageous over silicon for suppressing the source-to-drain tunneling at the scaling limit of transistors 12 . Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) is a layered semiconductor from the transition metal dichalcogenides material family (TMD), MX 2 (M=Mo, W; X=S, Se, Te) 10,11,19,20 . A single molecular layer of MoS 2 consists of a layer of Mo atoms sandwiched between two layers of sulfur atoms by covalent bonds 10 . The strong intra-layer covalent bonds confer MoS 2 crystals excellent mechanical strength, thermal stability up to 1090 C in inert environment 21 , and a surface free of dangling bonds. On the other hand, the weak inter-layer Van der Waal's force allows single-or fewlayer MoS 2 thin films to be created through micro-mechanical cleavage technique 22 and through anisotropic 2D 3 growth by chemical vapor deposition 23,24 . This unique property of MoS 2 , and 2D ...

Semi-metallic graphene and semiconducting monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides are the most intensively studied two-dimensional materials of recent years. Lately, black phosphorus has emerged as a promising new two-dimensional material due to its widely tunable and direct bandgap, high carrier mobility and remarkable in-plane anisotropic electrical, optical and phonon properties. However, current progress is primarily limited to its thin-film form. Here, we reveal highly anisotropic and strongly bound excitons in monolayer black phosphorus using polarization-resolved photoluminescence measurements at room temperature. We show that, regardless of the excitation laser polarization, the emitted light from the monolayer is linearly polarized along the light effective mass direction and centres around 1.3 eV, a clear signature of emission from highly anisotropic bright excitons. Moreover, photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy suggests a quasiparticle bandgap of 2.2 eV, from which we estimate an exciton binding energy of ∼0.9 eV, consistent with theoretical results based on first principles. The experimental observation of highly anisotropic, bright excitons with large binding energy not only opens avenues for the future explorations of many-electron physics in this unusual two-dimensional material, but also suggests its promising future in optoelectronic devices.

We introduce a scheme for molecular simulations, the deep potential molecular dynamics (DPMD) method, based on a many-body potential and interatomic forces generated by a carefully crafted deep neural network trained with ab initio data. The neural network model preserves all the natural symmetries in the problem. It is first-principles based in the sense that there are no ad hoc components aside from the network model. We show that the proposed scheme provides an efficient and accurate protocol in a variety of systems, including bulk materials and molecules. In all these cases, DPMD gives results that are essentially indistinguishable from the original data, at a cost that scales linearly with system size.

One hundred years after its first successful synthesis in the bulk form in 1914, black phosphorus (black P) was recently rediscovered from the perspective of a 2D layered material, attracting tremendous interest from condensed matter physicists, chemists, semiconductor device engineers, and material scientists. Similar to graphite and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), black P has a layered structure but with a unique puckered single-layer geometry. Because the direct electronic band gap of thin film black P can be varied from 0.3 eV to around 2 eV, depending on its film thickness, and because of its high carrier mobility and anisotropic in-plane properties, black P is promising for novel applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics different from graphene and TMDs. Black P as a nanomaterial has already attracted much attention from researchers within the past year. Here, we offer our opinions on this emerging material with the goal of motivating and inspiring fellow researchers in the 2D materials community and the broad readership of PNAS to discuss and contribute to this exciting new field. We also give our perspectives on future 2D and thin film black P research directions, aiming to assist researchers coming from a variety of disciplines who are desirous of working in this exciting research field.At the beginning of 2014, a few research teams including the ones led by the authors reintroduced black phosphorus (black P) from the perspective of a layered thin film material (1-6), in which previously unidentified properties and applications have arisen. Since then, black P, the most stable allotrope of the phosphorus element, is emerging as a promising semiconductor with a moderate band gap for nanoelectronics and nanophotonics applications (7,8). Its single-and fewatomic layer forms can be isolated by techniques such as micromechanical exfoliation, giving rise to a type of 2D material with many unique properties not found in other members of the 2D materials family. Here, we present our perspectives on this latest addition to the 2D materials family, which can bridge the energy gap between that of graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 ), tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ), and tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ). In addition, we also offer our viewpoint on using the in-plane anisotropy of black P to develop electronic, photonic, and thermoelectric devices.Black P is a single-elemental layered crystalline material consisting of only phosphorus atoms (9). Unlike in group IV elemental layered materials, such as graphene, silicene, or germanene, each phosphorus atom has five outer shell electrons. Black P has three crystalline structures (10): orthorhombic, simple cubic, and rhombohedral. Semiconducting puckered orthorhombic black P is of interest here and it belongs to the D 18 2h point group ( Fig. 1 A and B), which has reduced symmetry compared with its group IV counterparts (such as graphene) having the D 4 6h point group symmetr...

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Black phosphorus thin films might offer attractive alternatives to narrow gap compound semiconductors for optoelectronics across mid-to near-infrared frequencies. In this work, we calculate the optical conductivity tensor of multilayer black phosphorus thin films using the Kubo formula within an effective low-energy Hamiltonian. The optical absorption spectra of multilayer black phosphorus are shown to vary sensitively with thickness, doping, and light polarization. In conjunction with experimental spectra obtained from infrared absorption spectroscopy, we also discuss the role of interband coupling and disorder on the observed anisotropic absorption spectra.