Spin Polarization and Spin‐Flip Through Phosphorene Superlattice

The spin‐dependent transport properties, including spin polarization and spin‐flip for phosphorene superlattice in the presence of an extrinsic Rashba spin‐orbit interaction (RSOI) based on the transfer matrix method, are studied. The results show that the number of barriers in the superlattice structure plays a dominant role in output spin polarization, which can be used in designing optimized spintronic devices. In addition, by controlling on the Rashba strength, an incident spin‐up electron can be transmitted as a spin‐down electron. Also, it enables to convert the unpolarized incident electronic beam (with zero spin polarization) into an arbitrary output spin polarization, which plays a significant role in qubit circuits.     

Phosphorene Supported Single-Atom Catalysts for CO Oxidation: A Computational Study

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have attracted extensive attention owing to their high catalytic activity. The development of efficient SACs is crucial for applications in heterogeneous catalysis. In this article, the geometric configuration, electronic structure, stabilitiy and catalytic performance of phosphorene (Pn) supported single metal atoms (M=Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt, and Au) have been systematically investigated using density functional theory calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The single atoms are found to occupy the hollow site of phosphorene. Among the catalysts studied, Ru-decorated phosphorene is determined to be a potential catalyst by evaluating adsorption energies of gaseous molecules. Various mechanisms including the Eley-Rideal (ER), Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) and trimolecular Eley-Rideal (TER) mechanisms are considered to validate the most favourable reaction pathway. Our results reveal that Ru−Pn exhibits outstanding catalytic activity toward CO oxidation reaction via TER mechanism with the corresponding rate-determining energy barrier of 0.44 eV, making it a very promising SAC for CO oxidation under mild conditions. Overall, this work may provide a new avenue for the design and fabrication of two-dimensional materials supported SACs for low-temperature CO oxidation.     

Tunable magnetism through edge functionalization in zigzag green phosphorene nanoribbons

Ab initio density-functional theory calculations with spin polarization are performed to explore magnetic properties in zigzag green phosphorene nanoribbons (ZGPNRs) with no passivation or edge-saturated by H, OH and O chemical species. It is found that antiferromagnetic order at intra-edges is the most energetically favorable for the pristine and oxygen passivated ribbons, while H- or OH-saturated ZGPNRs show nonmagnetic order. It indicates that edge states arising from the unsaturated bonds are vital for the formation of the magnetic moment in the ZGPNRs. The magnitude of the edge magnetism in the pristine and O-saturated ZGPNRs is comparable to that in zigzag black phosphorene nanoribbons. Electronic band structures, spin densities and spd-orbital projected density of states for the studied pristine and O-passivated ZGPNRs are further analyzed to study their electronic properties. The magnetic and electronic properties discovered in the ZGPNRs may suggest potential applications in future spintronics and electronics.     

Interface effect between blue phosphorus and metals

The contacted properties of metal substrates with single layer (monolayer) blue phosphorus are calculated by first principles. We analyze the charge transfer, atomic orbital overlap, electronic properties and potential barrier at the interface of metal contacted blue phosphorene (BuleP) to understand how to effectively inject electrons from the metal into the contacted blue phosphorus. We inquire into interfacial effect of blue phosphorene directly in contact with five representative metallic substrates – Au (111), Ag(111), Al(111), Co(111) and Sc(0001), which are having minimal lattice mismatch with the BlueP. We find that the contact properties of these five metals are ohmic contact and schottky contact. Of the five different contact metals, Co-BlueP heterojunction has the best electrical conductivity. The lower SBH in the Al contact can also lead to a good substrate for a Schottky contact for the heterojunction. These results can provide guidance for the future design of BlueP-based electronic devices and for the exploration of new low-dimensional semiconductor transport processes.     

Expedition on surface adsorption of N-nitrosodiethylamine from rubber fumes on blue phosphorene sheets – a first-principles insight

In recent days, humans are easily exposed to many work-related health issues. N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDE), which is considered to be a harmful carcinogenic agent released from rubber-based industries imparts a long-lasting effect on human health and immunity system. The current research investigates the ability of the two-dimensional nanomaterial, blue phosphorene nanosheet (BPNS) to detect the presence of NDE in the environment. Besides, the electronic and structural characteristics of BPNS are initially explored and NDE target vapour is permitted to interact with the chief component, BPNS. We have also designed blue phosphorene device to study the adsorption properties of NDE vapours based on current–voltage characteristics. The adsorption attributes are accounted for the target vapour adsorbed chief component, the results suggest that BPNS can be employed in detecting NDE vapours.     

Hierarchically Structured Allotropes of Phosphorus from Data-Driven Exploration

The discovery of materials is increasingly guided by quantum-mechanical crystal-structure prediction, but the structural complexity in bulk and nanoscale materials remains a bottleneck. Here we demonstrate how data-driven approaches can vastly accelerate the search for complex structures, combining a machine-learning (ML) model for the potential-energy surface with efficient, fragment-based searching. We use the characteristic building units observed in Hittorf's and fibrous phosphorus to seed stochastic (“random”) structure searches over hundreds of thousands of runs. Our study identifies a family of hierarchically structured allotropes based on a P8 cage as principal building unit, including one-dimensional (1D) single and double helix structures, nanowires, and two-dimensional (2D) phosphorene allotropes with square-lattice and kagome topologies. These findings yield new insight into the intriguingly diverse structural chemistry of phosphorus, and they provide an example for how ML methods may, in the long run, be expected to accelerate the discovery of hierarchical nanostructures.     

Cytotoxicity of Shear Exfoliated Pnictogen (As,Sb, Bi) Nanosheets

The experimental achievement of phosphorene, which exhibits superior electronic, physical, and optical properties has spurred recent interest in other Group 15 elemental 2D nanomaterials such as arsenene, antimonene, and bismuthene. These unique and superior properties of the pnictogen nanosheets have spurred intensive research efforts and led to the discovery of their diversified potential applications; for instance, optical Kerr material, photonic devices, pnictogen-decorated microfibers, high-speed transistors, and flexible 2D electronics. Previous studies have mainly been dedicated to study the synthesis, properties, and applications of the heavy pnictogens nanosheets; however, the toxicological behaviour of these nanosheets has yet to be established. Herein, the cytotoxicity study of pnictogen nanosheets (As, Sb, and Bi) was conducted over 24 h of incubation with various concentrations of test materials and adenocarcinoma human lung epithelial A549 cells. After the treatment period, the remaining cell viabilities were obtained through absorbance measurements with WST-8 and MTT assays. These findings demonstrate that the toxicity of pnictogen nanosheets decreases down Group 15, whereby arsenic nanosheets are considered to be the most toxic, whereas bismuth nanosheets induce low cytotoxicity. The findings of this study constitute an important initial step towards enhancing our understanding of the toxicological effects of pnictogen nanosheets in light of their prospective commercial applications.     

层数调控磷烯能带与光学性质的研究

近年来,黑磷作为兼具石墨烯和过渡金属硫化物之长的新型二维材料而倍受关注.本文基于密度泛函理论,研究了不同厚度黑磷的电子结构与光学性质.结果表明,黑磷的性质与其厚度密切相关,可通过厚度调整实现能带与光学性质的可调控性.层间相互作用导致费米能级附近价带和导带的劈裂,是造成黑磷带隙随层数减小的根本原因.黒磷的静态折射率和静态反射率的大小均随层数的增大有增大的趋势,并且各层黑磷的反射峰均位于紫外光波段.黑磷对光的吸收涵盖了可见光到紫外光区域,对光的损失范围小于4eV.本文基于能带图和分波态密度图,从电子跃迁的角度分析了黑磷各项光学性质的变化情况,旨在为黑磷的带隙及光学性质层数可调控性提供理论依据.     

Phosphorene-Based Electrocatalysts

Phosphorene, generally defined as two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP) with monolayered or few-layered structure, has emerged as a promising member of the family of 2D materials. Since its discovery in 2014, extensive research has been focused on broadening its applications, covering the biological, photoelectric, and electrochemical fields, owing to the unique physicochemical and structural properties. As a single-elemental material, phosphorene has demonstrated its applicability for the preparation of efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), and other electrocatalytic applications. In this Minireview, a summary of the very recent research progresses of phosphorene in electrocatalysis is offered, with a special focus on the effective synthetic strategies towards performance improvement. In the concluding section, challenges and perspectives are also discussed.     

Manipulating electronic and magnetic properties of black phosphorene with 4d series transition metal adsorption

We carry out first-principles calculations within density-functional theory to investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of 4d transition metal (TM) decorated monolayer black phosphorene (BP). The results indicate that the TM adsorption on BP can have dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) properties. The spin polarized semiconducting state is realized in BP by adsorption of Y, Nb and Ru, while a half-metal state is obtained by Tc adsorption. In the case of two same types of TMs adsorption on BP, only [email protected] shows DMS state. In particular, two different types of TMs decorated BP can induce magnetic moments, localized mainly on the 4d TMs and the neighboring P atoms. Furthermore, the 4d TMs may enrich the electronic properties of BP, such as half-metallic, metallic and semiconducting features. These findings suggest that the 4d TM adsorbed BP can be used as a potential next-generation spintronics and magnetic storage material.