Creating a Stable Oxide at the Surface of Black Phosphorus

M T Edmonds; A Tadich; A Carvalho; A Ziletti; K M O'Donnell; S P Koenig; D F Coker; B Özyilmaz; A H Castro Neto; M S Fuhrer

doi:10.1021/acsami.5b01297

Creating a Stable Oxide at the Surface of Black Phosphorus

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2015 Jul 15;7(27):14557-62. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b01297. Epub 2015 Jun 30.

Authors

M T Edmonds¹, A Tadich², A Carvalho, A Ziletti³, K M O'Donnell⁴, S P Koenig, D F Coker³, B Özyilmaz, A H Castro Neto⁵, M S Fuhrer^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ ‡School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
² §Australian Synchrotron, 700 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria 3183, Australia.
³ #Department of Chemistry, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States.
⁴ □Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
⁵ ○Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States.
⁶ △Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 207424111, United States.

PMID: 26126232
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b01297

Abstract

The stability of the surface of in situ cleaved black phosphorus crystals upon exposure to atmosphere is investigated with synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy. After 2 days atmosphere exposure a stable subnanometer layer of primarily P2O5 forms at the surface. The work function increases by 0.1 eV from 3.9 eV for as-cleaved black phosphorus to 4.0 eV after formation of the 0.4 nm thick oxide, with phosphorus core levels shifting by <0.1 eV. The results indicate minimal charge transfer, suggesting that the oxide layer is suitable for passivation or as an interface layer for further dielectric deposition.

Keywords: XPS; air stability; black phosphorus; oxidation.

Publication types

Letter
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.