Surfactant assisted exfoliation and stability of few layer phosphorene sheets

Abstract

Inevitable degradation of the phosphorene sheets in ambient condition hinder its electronic and catalyst based application. Tendency of lone pair of electrons, present in phosphorene, to react with the ambient oxygen leads to formation of phosphoric oxide, which further reacts with water to form phosphoric acid. In order to prevent the degradation of phosphorene sheets, we are using surfactant assisted exfoliation of phosphorene sheets. Ionic surfactant having a charged group has tendency towards the lone pair of electrons of phosphorene and thus avoiding the interaction with oxygen. Furthermore, long hydrophobic chain in surfactant shuns the water molecules and further reduces the degradation rate of phosphorene. Here, we found that cetyltrimethyl ammonium butyl (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) lead to high yield production of few layer phosphorene and further reduces the degradation rate by 3 and 5 times respectively. Proper choice of surfactant is a prerequisite condition for enhancing the stability of phosphorene sheets.