Characterization and sonochemical synthesis of black phosphorus from red phosphorus

Phosphorene is a new two-dimensional material which is commonly prepared by exfoliation from black phosphorus bulk crystals that historically have been synthesized from white phosphorus under high-pressure conditions. The few layers of. phosphorene have a direct band gap in the range of 0.3-2 eV and high mobility at room temperature comparable to epitaxial graphene. These characteristics. can be used for the design of high speed digital circuits, radio frequency circuits, flexible and printed systems, and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we synthesized black phosphorus from red phosphorus, which is a safer solid precursor, using sonochemistry. Furthermore, via a variety of microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, we report characterization results of the sonochemically synthesized black phosphorus in addition to the commercial black phosphorus. Finally, we describe the air stability of black phosphors and the crystalline structure of the synthesized material. This is the first result of sonochemical or solution-based synthesis of black phosphorus based on readily available low-cost red phosphorus. This solution-based synthesis of black phosphorus is suitable for printable applications of nanomaterial.