Epitaxial multilayers of alkanes on two-dimensional black phosphorus as passivating and electrically insulating nanostructures

Bolognesi, Margherita; Brucale, Marco; Lorenzoni, Andrea; Prescimone, Federico; Moschetto, Salvatore; Korolkov, Vladimir V.; Baldoni, Matteo; Serrano-Ruiz, Manuel; Caporali, Maria; Mercuri, Francesco; Besley, Elena; Muccini, Michele; Peruzzini, Maurizio; Beton, Peter H.; Toffanin, Stefano

Abstract

© The Royal Society of Chemistry. Mechanically exfoliated two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (bP) is epitaxially terminated by monolayers and multilayers of tetracosane, a linear alkane, to form a weakly interacting van der Waals heterostructure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and computational modelling show that epitaxial domains of alkane chains are ordered in parallel lamellae along the principal crystalline axis of bP, and this order is extended over a few layers above the interface. Epitaxial alkane multilayers delay the oxidation of 2D bP in air by 18 hours, in comparison to 1 hour for bare 2D bP, and act as an electrical insulator, as demonstrated using electrostatic force microscopy. The presented heterostructure is a technologically relevant insulator-semiconductor model system that can open the way to the use of 2D bP in micro-and nanoelectronic, optoelectronic and photonic applications.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 7, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2019
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Print ISSN: 2040-3364
• Electronic ISSN: 2040-3372
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 37
• Pages: 17252-17261
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c9nr01155b
• Keywords: General Materials Science
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2408013
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/NR/C9NR01155B#!divAbstract
• Additional Information: : This document is Similarity Check deposited; : Supplementary Information; : Margherita Bolognesi (ORCID); : Marco Brucale (ORCID); : Andrea Lorenzoni (ORCID); : Salvatore Moschetto (ORCID); : Matteo Baldoni (ORCID); : Matteo Baldoni (ResearcherID); : Manuel Serrano-Ruiz (ORCID); : Maria Caporali (ORCID); : Francesco Mercuri (ORCID); : Elena Besley (ORCID); : Michele Muccini (ORCID); : Maurizio Peruzzini (ORCID); : Peter H. Beton (ORCID); : Stefano Toffanin (ORCID); : Stefano Toffanin (ResearcherID); : Single-blind; : Received 5 February 2019; Accepted 1 June 2019; Advance Article published 18 July 2019