SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
Research Center for Internet of Things, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221008, China.
Nanoscale. 2016 Jul 14;8(28):13603-10. doi: 10.1039/c6nr02487d.
Recently discovered atomically thin black phosphorus (called phosphorene) holds great promise for applications in flexible nanoelectronic devices. Experimentally identifying and characterizing nanomechanical properties of phosphorene are challenging, but also potentially rewarding. This work combines for the first time in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and an in situ micro-manipulation system to directly visualize the nanomechanical behaviour of individual phosphorene nanoflakes. We demonstrate that the phosphorene nanoflakes can be easily bent, scrolled, and stretched, showing remarkable mechanical flexibility rather than fracturing. An out-of-plane plate-like bending mechanism and in-plane tensile strain of up to 34% were observed. Moreover, a facile liquid-phase shear exfoliation route has been developed to produce such mono-layer and few-layer phosphorene nanoflakes in organic solvents using only a household kitchen blender. The effects of surface tensions of the applied solvents on the ratio of average length and thickness (L/T) of the nanoflakes were studied systematically. The results reported here will pave the way for potential industrial-scale applications of flexible phosphorene nanoelectronic devices.
最近发现的原子级薄的黑磷（称为磷烯）在柔性纳电子器件的应用中具有很大的前景。实验上识别和表征磷烯的纳机械性能具有挑战性，但也有潜在的回报。这项工作首次结合了原位透射电子显微镜（TEM）成像和原位微操作系统，直接观察到单个磷烯纳米片的纳机械行为。我们证明了磷烯纳米片可以很容易地弯曲、卷曲和拉伸，表现出显著的机械柔韧性，而不是断裂。观察到了面外板状弯曲机制和高达 34%的面内拉伸应变。此外，还开发了一种简便的液相剪切剥离方法，只需使用家用厨房搅拌机，就可以在有机溶剂中制备出这种单层和少层的磷烯纳米片。系统研究了所施加溶剂的表面张力对纳米片的平均长度和厚度（L/T）比值的影响。这里报道的结果将为柔性磷烯纳电子器件的潜在工业应用铺平道路。
