Quantum confinement in black phosphorus-based nanostructures

Lossy Mode Resonance Sensors Based on Anisotropic Few-Layer Black Phosphorus

Lossy mode resonance (LMR) sensors offer a promising avenue to surpass the constraints of conventional surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors by delivering enhanced label-free detection capabilities. A notable edge of LMR over SPR is its excitation potential by both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarized light. Yet this merit remains underexplored due to challenges to achieving high sensing performance under both TM and TE polarization within a singular LMR model. This study introduces a theoretical model for an LMR prism refractive index sensor based on a MgF2-few layer black phosphorus-MgF2 configuration, which can achieve angular sensitivity nearing 90° refractive index unit-1 (RIU-1) for both polarizations. Leveraging the distinct anisotropic nature of black phosphorus, the figure of merit (FOM) values along its two principal crystal axes (zigzag and armchair) show great difference, achieving an impressive FOM of 1.178 × 106 RIU-1 along the zigzag direction under TE polarized light and 1.231 × 104 RIU-1 along the armchair direction under TM polarized light. We also provide an analysis of the electric field distribution for each configuration at its respective resonant conditions. The proposed structure paves the way for innovative applications of anisotropic-material-based LMR sensors in various applications.

Layer engineering in optoelectronic and photonic properties of single and few layer phosphorene using first-principles calculations

Developing devices for optoelectronic and photonic applications-based nanomaterials has been one of the most critical challenges in the last decade. In this work, we use first-principles density functional theory combined with non-equilibrium Green's function to highlight for the first time the sensitivity of optoelectronic and photonic properties toward the exfoliation process. All the studied structures were relaxed and their relevant phonon modes confirm the high structural stability. The obtained phosphorene layers remained semiconducting with a direct band gap like the respective bulk structure with 10 layers. We also examined the effects of the thickness on the electron-hole interaction by calculating absorption energy combined with electron relaxation lifetimes. Additionally, we explore the optoelectronic properties, which can also be influenced by the exfoliation. Finally, we found that the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic shows higher sensitivity toward the bulk structure than the other 2D forms of phosphorene structures, meaning that the Schottky barrier at the interface of the bulk phosphorene is much lower than mono, and few layer phosphorene.

Infrared Light Emission Devices Based on Two-Dimensional Materials

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have garnered considerable attention due to their advantageous properties, including tunable bandgap, prominent carrier mobility, tunable response and absorption spectral band, and so forth. The above-mentioned properties ensure that 2D materials hold great promise for various high-performance infrared (IR) applications, such as night vision, remote sensing, surveillance, target acquisition, optical communication, etc. Thus, it is of great significance to acquire better insight into IR applications based on 2D materials. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of 2D materials in IR light emission device applications. First, we introduce the background and motivation of the review, then the 2D materials suitable for IR light emission are presented, followed by a comprehensive review of 2D-material-based spontaneous emission and laser applications. Finally, further development directions and challenges are summarized. We believe that milestone investigations of 2D-material-based IR light emission applications will emerge soon, which are beneficial for 2D-material-based nano-device commercialization.

Engineering 2D Materials for Photocatalytic Water-Splitting from a Theoretical Perspective

Splitting of water with the help of photocatalysts has gained a strong interest in the scientific community for producing clean energy, thus requiring novel semiconductor materials to achieve high-yield hydrogen production. The emergence of 2D nanoscale materials with remarkable electronic and optical properties has received much attention in this field. Owing to the recent developments in high-end computation and advanced electronic structure theories, first principles studies offer powerful tools to screen photocatalytic systems reliably and efficiently. This review is organized to highlight the essential properties of 2D photocatalysts and the recent advances in the theoretical engineering of 2D materials for the improvement in photocatalytic overall water-splitting. The advancement in the strategies including (i) single-atom catalysts, (ii) defect engineering, (iii) strain engineering, (iv) Janus structures, (v) type-II heterostructures (vi) Z-scheme heterostructures (vii) multilayer configurations (viii) edge-modification in nanoribbons and (ix) the effect of pH in overall water-splitting are summarized to improve the existing problems for a photocatalytic catalytic reaction such as overcoming large overpotential to trigger the water-splitting reactions without using cocatalysts. This review could serve as a bridge between theoretical and experimental research on next-generation 2D photocatalysts.

Origin of observed narrow bandgap of mica nanosheets

Mica nanosheets possess peculiar feature of narrowed bandgap with the decrease of thickness but a conclusive theoretical understanding of the narrowing mechanisms is still under development. In this report, first-principles calculations were carried out to investigate the electronic band structure of mica nanosheets with the deposition of K₂CO₃. Bulk mica shows an indirect bandgap of 4.90 eV. Mica nanosheets show similar electronic structures to bulk mica with a gradually increased bandgap of 4.44 eV, 4.52 eV and 4.67 eV for 1-layer, 2-layers and 3-layers nanosheets, respectively, which is attributed to the lattice relaxation. K₂CO₃ is found to have strong affinity towards mica nanosheets. The K₂CO₃ deposited mica nanosheets showed an increased bandgap with the increase of thickness, consistent with experimental observations. The calculated bandgap of K₂CO₃ deposited mica for 2-layers and 3-layers nanosheets are 2.60 eV and 2.75 eV, respectively, which are comparable with the corresponding experimental values of 2.5 eV and 3.0 eV. Our theoretical findings support the experimental evidence of surface contamination of mica by K₂CO₃, and provide new insight into the structure and properties of 2D mica.

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of phosphorene under different pH values using density functional theory (DFT)

Phosphorene, a new two-dimensional material, was investigated theoretically as a promising photocatalyst material. The structural and electronic properties of phosphorene were studied using hybrid functional based HSE approximation. The effect of the adsorbed molecules on the phosphorene surface was studied for various chemical elements, such as water molecule (H₂O), hydronium ion (H₃O⁺), hydrogen atom and ion (H/H⁺), hydroxide molecule (OH), and hydroxide ion (OH⁻). The potential application of phosphorene as a photocatalyst in vacuum was proved under different pH values. A pH of 8 was found to be the suitable value for clean phosphorene in which the flat band position was corrected for the oxidizing and reducing potentials of phosphorene, but the presence of OH⁻ ions in a basic solution damaged the surface structure and limited the use of phosphorene in photocatalysis caused by the high content (0.25 ML and 0.5 ML) of the adsorbed OH⁻ on the phosphorene surface. The obtained results matched the required parameters of a photocatalyst for water splitting using clean phosphorene surface in neutral solution (pH = 7).

Phosphorene, a new two-dimensional material, was investigated theoretically as a promising photocatalyst material.

Periodic Arrays of Phosphorene Nanopores as Antidot Lattices with Tunable Properties

A tunable band gap in phosphorene extends its applicability in nanoelectronic and optoelectronic applications. Here, we propose to tune the band gap in phosphorene by patterning antidot lattices, which are periodic arrays of holes or nanopores etched in the material, and by exploiting quantum confinement in the corresponding nanoconstrictions. We fabricated antidot lattices with radii down to 13 nm in few-layer black phosphorus flakes protected by an oxide layer and observed suppression of the in-plane phonon modes relative to the unmodified material via Raman spectroscopy. In contrast to graphene antidots, the Raman peak positions in few-layer BP antidots are unchanged, in agreement with predicted power spectra. We also use DFT calculations to predict the electronic properties of phosphorene antidot lattices and observe a band gap scaling consistent with quantum confinement effects. Deviations are attributed primarily to self-passivating edge morphologies, where each phosphorus atom has the same number of bonds per atom as the pristine material so that no dopants can saturate dangling bonds. Quantum confinement is stronger for the zigzag edge nanoconstrictions between the holes as compared to those with armchair edges, resulting in a roughly bimodal band gap distribution. Interestingly, in two of the antidot structures an unreported self-passivating reconstruction of the zigzag edge endows the systems with a metallic component. The experimental demonstration of antidots and the theoretical results provide motivation to further scale down nanofabrication of antidots in the few-nanometer size regime, where quantum confinement is particularly important.