Reactivity of Silane compounds with few-layer black phosphorus

2D materials have attracted the interest of researchers around the world due to their outstanding properties and potential applications in many fields such as optoelectronics and sensing. Among those 2D materials, phosphorene, which consists on a single layer of bulk orthorhombic black phosphorus1, seems to be promising. Yet, the instability of this material in air and its tendency to degrade very quickly via reaction with oxygen and water is a major drawback that impedes its direct application.2 Therefore, for the last years, research efforts have been devoted to the chemical functionalization of this fascinating nanomaterial in order to improve its stability.3 It is known that SiO2 coating is a common process that has been previously used in many nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes.4 This kind of coating does not alter its electronic structure significantly and improving their resistance to degradation. In this work, we have studied the reactivity of few-layers black phosphorus with various silane compounds such as TEOS and PDMS. Characterization of the reaction products (IR, Raman, TEM, etc.) shows the layers of BP are containing silicon compounds and that the flakes are free of SiO2 nanoparticles on its surface. Analysis via EDX confirmed the presence of Si whose quantity depends on the reaction conditions. References: [1] , Materials Chemistry and Physics 2017, 189, 215-229. [2] 2D Mater. 2018, 5, 032001. [3] Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1704749. [4] Nano Letters 2002, 2, 329. Acknowledgements: Thanks are expressed to the European Research Council (ERC) for funding the project PHOSFUN "Phosphorene functionalization: a new platform for advanced multifunctional materials" (Grant Agreement No. 670173) through an ERC Advanced Grant to M. P. and to the University of Siena.