Nanotechnology Now

Our NanoNews Digest Sponsors
Heifer International



Home > Press > Black phosphorus surges ahead of graphene: A Korean team of scientists tune BP's band gap to form a superior conductor, allowing for the application to be mass produced for electronic and optoelectronics devices

The research team operating out of Pohang University of Science and Technology, affiliated with the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, reported a tunable band gap in BP, effectively modifying the semiconducting material into a unique state of matter with anisotropic dispersion. This research outcome potentially allows for great flexibility in the design and optimization of electronic and optoelectronic devices like solar panels and telecommunication lasers.
CREDIT: Institute for Basic Science
The research team operating out of Pohang University of Science and Technology, affiliated with the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems, reported a tunable band gap in BP, effectively modifying the semiconducting material into a unique state of matter with anisotropic dispersion. This research outcome potentially allows for great flexibility in the design and optimization of electronic and optoelectronic devices like solar panels and telecommunication lasers.

CREDIT: Institute for Basic Science

Abstract:
A Korean team of scientists tune BP's band gap to form a superior conductor, allowing for the application to be mass produced for electronic and optoelectronics devices

Black phosphorus surges ahead of graphene: A Korean team of scientists tune BP's band gap to form a superior conductor, allowing for the application to be mass produced for electronic and optoelectronics devices

Daejeon, Korea | Posted on August 14th, 2015

The research team operating out of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), affiliated with the Institute for Basic Science's (IBS) Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems (CALDES), reported a tunable band gap in BP, effectively modifying the semiconducting material into a unique state of matter with anisotropic dispersion. This research outcome potentially allows for great flexibility in the design and optimization of electronic and optoelectronic devices like solar panels and telecommunication lasers.

To truly understand the significance of the team's findings, it's instrumental to understand the nature of two-dimensional (2-D) materials, and for that one must go back to 2010 when the world of 2-D materials was dominated by a simple thin sheet of carbon, a layered form of carbon atoms constructed to resemble honeycomb, called graphene. Graphene was globally heralded as a wonder-material thanks to the work of two British scientists who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their research on it.

Graphene is extremely thin and has remarkable attributes. It is stronger than steel yet many times lighter, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber. All these properties combined make it a tremendous conductor of heat and electricity. A defect-free layer is also impermeable to all atoms and molecules. This amalgamation makes it a terrifically attractive material to apply to scientific developments in a wide variety of fields, such as electronics, aerospace and sports. For all its dazzling promise there is however a disadvantage; graphene has no band gap.

Stepping Stones to a Unique State

A material's band gap is fundamental to determining its electrical conductivity. Imagine two river crossings, one with tightly-packed stepping-stones, and the other with large gaps between stones. The former is far easier to traverse because a jump between two tightly-packed stones requires less energy. A band gap is much the same; the smaller the gap the more efficiently the current can move across the material and the stronger the current.

Graphene has a band gap of zero in its natural state, however, and so acts like a conductor; the semiconductor potential can't be realized because the conductivity can't be shut off, even at low temperatures. This obviously dilutes its appeal as a semiconductor, as shutting off conductivity is a vital part of a semiconductor's function.

Birth of a Revolution

Phosphorus is the fifteenth element in the periodic table and lends its name to an entire class of compounds. Indeed it could be considered an archetype of chemistry itself. Black phosphorus is the stable form of white phosphorus and gets its name from its distinctive color. Like graphene, BP is a semiconductor and also cheap to mass produce. The one big difference between the two is BP's natural band gap, allowing the material to switch its electrical current on and off. The research team tested on few layers of BP called phosphorene which is an allotrope of phosphorus.

Keun Su Kim, an amiable professor stationed at POSTECH speaks in rapid bursts when detailing the experiment, "We transferred electrons from the dopant - potassium - to the surface of the black phosphorus, which confined the electrons and allowed us to manipulate this state. Potassium produces a strong electrical field which is what we required to tune the size of the band gap."

This process of transferring electrons is known as doping and induced a giant Stark effect, which tuned the band gap allowing the valence and conductive bands to move closer together, effectively lowering the band gap and drastically altering it to a value between 0.0 ~ 0.6 electron Volt (eV) from its original intrinsic value of 0.35 eV. Professor Kim explained, "Graphene is a Dirac semimetal. It's more efficient in its natural state than black phosphorus but it's difficult to open its band gap; therefore we tuned BP's band gap to resemble the natural state of graphene, a unique state of matter that is different from conventional semiconductors."

The potential for this new improved form of black phosphorus is beyond anything the Korean team hoped for, and very soon it could potentially be applied to several sectors including engineering where electrical engineers can adjust the band gap and create devises with the exact behavior desired. The 2-D revolution, it seems, has arrived and is here for the long run.

####

For more information, please click here

Contacts:
Sunny Kim

82-428-788-135

Copyright © Institute for Basic Science (IBS)

If you have a comment, please Contact us.

Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Bookmark:
Delicious Digg Newsvine Google Yahoo Reddit Magnoliacom Furl Facebook

Related News Press

News and information

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials: Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials March 8th, 2024

Two-dimensional bimetallic selenium-containing metal-organic frameworks and their calcinated derivatives as electrocatalysts for overall water splitting March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

Graphene/ Graphite

First human trial shows ‘wonder’ material can be developed safely: A revolutionary nanomaterial with huge potential to tackle multiple global challenges could be developed further without acute risk to human health, research suggests February 16th, 2024

NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024

$900,000 awarded to optimize graphene energy harvesting devices: The WoodNext Foundation's commitment to U of A physicist Paul Thibado will be used to develop sensor systems compatible with six different power sources January 12th, 2024

First direct imaging of small noble gas clusters at room temperature: Novel opportunities in quantum technology and condensed matter physics opened by noble gas atoms confined between graphene layers January 12th, 2024

Chip Technology

New chip opens door to AI computing at light speed February 16th, 2024

HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024

Electrons screen against conductivity-killer in organic semiconductors: The discovery is the first step towards creating effective organic semiconductors, which use significantly less water and energy, and produce far less waste than their inorganic counterparts February 16th, 2024

NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024

Optical computing/Photonic computing

Optically trapped quantum droplets of light can bind together to form macroscopic complexes March 8th, 2024

New chip opens door to AI computing at light speed February 16th, 2024

HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024

NRL discovers two-dimensional waveguides February 16th, 2024

Discoveries

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024

High-tech 'paint' could spare patients repeated surgeries March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Announcements

What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

The Access to Advanced Health Institute receives up to $12.7 million to develop novel nanoalum adjuvant formulation for better protection against tuberculosis and pandemic influenza March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters

Researchers develop artificial building blocks of life March 8th, 2024

How surface roughness influences the adhesion of soft materials: Research team discovers universal mechanism that leads to adhesion hysteresis in soft materials March 8th, 2024

Curcumin nanoemulsion is tested for treatment of intestinal inflammation: A formulation developed by Brazilian researchers proved effective in tests involving mice March 8th, 2024

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Photonics/Optics/Lasers

Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024

Optically trapped quantum droplets of light can bind together to form macroscopic complexes March 8th, 2024

HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024

A battery’s hopping ions remember where they’ve been: Seen in atomic detail, the seemingly smooth flow of ions through a battery’s electrolyte is surprisingly complicated February 16th, 2024

NanoNews-Digest
The latest news from around the world, FREE




  Premium Products
NanoNews-Custom
Only the news you want to read!
 Learn More
NanoStrategies
Full-service, expert consulting
 Learn More











ASP
Nanotechnology Now Featured Books




NNN

The Hunger Project