Phosphorene under electron beam: from monolayer to one-dimensional chains

Abstract

Phosphorene, a single sheet of black phosphorus, is an elemental two-dimensional material with unique properties and potential applications in semiconductor technology. While few-layer flakes of the material have been characterized using transmission electron microscopy, very little is known about its response to electron irradiation, which may be particularly important in the context of top-down engineering of phosphorus nanostructures using a focused electron beam. Here, using first-principles simulations, we study the production of defects in a single phosphorene sheet under impacts of energetic electrons. By employing the McKinley-Feshbach formalism and accounting for the thermal motion of atoms, we assess the cross section for atom displacement as a function of electron energy. We further investigate the energetics and dynamics of point defects and the stability of ribbons and edges under an electron beam. Finally, we show that P atomic chains should be surprisingly stable, and their atomic structure is not linear giving rise to the absence of a gap in the electronic spectrum.

Controlled Sculpture of Black Phosphorus Nanoribbons

“…The edge energies (2D) and surface energies (bulk) are correlated with the widths in Figure S10. Further modeling of the nanosculpting effect would require a systematic study of electron-beam-induced disorder in BP 38 in addition to thermally induced defects. 39 …”

Stable, one-dimensional suspended and supported monatomic chains of pnictogens: a metal–insulator framework

“…Bismuth dimers in the nanoline are observed experimentally on the Si(001) surface, 35 or on H passivated Si(100) surfaces. 36 Very little is known about the monatomic chains of pnictogens (N, P, As, Sb, Bi) 34,37,38 despite their 2D monolayers, multilayers and nanoribbons having received growing interest. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] In fact, 2D mono-and multilayers of pnictogens offer diverse properties to be used in various applications, such as in topological spintronic devices, biosensors, batteries, thermoelectric devices, nonlinear optics etc.…”

Imidazolium Ionic Liquid Mediates Black Phosphorus Exfoliation while Preventing Phosphorene Decomposition

“…During the last decade, investigation of 2D materials has become one of the hottest areas of nanoscience. These novel 2D systems -graphene, molybdenum disulfide, boron nitride, phosphorene, etc -exhibit unusual electronic and physicochemical properties, making them candidates for a variety of applications, particularly in electronics and optoelectronics, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] as well as solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, photodetectors, transistors, and even gas sensors. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] An atomically thin, covalently linked sheet of black phosphorus (BLP), phosphorene represent a newer member of this family.…”