Liquefaction of water on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic layered black phosphorus

Jinlai Zhao,Zhinan Guo,Jianqing Li,David K Sang,Rui Cao,Huide Wang,Jiajie Zhu,Han Zhang,Jiaoning Tang,Dianyuan Fan

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11937-9

Jinlai Zhao, Zhinan Guo + Show 8 more

Open Access

PDF Available

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11937-9

Copy DOI

Export

Save

Cite

Abstract
Highlights/Summary
Full-Text PDF
Similar Papers

Abstract

Listen

The growth and wetting of water on two-dimensional(2D) materials are important to understand the development of 2D material based electronic, optoelectronic, and nanomechanical devices. Here, we visualize the liquefaction processes of water on the surface of graphene, MoS2 and black phosphorus (BP) via optical microscopy. We show that the shape of the water droplets forming on the surface of BP, which is anisotropic, is elliptical. In contrast, droplets are rounded when they form on the surface of graphene or MoS2, which do not possess orthometric anisotropy. Molecular simulations show that the anisotropic liquefaction process of water on the surface of BP is attributed to the different binding energies of H2O molecules on BP along the armchair and zigzag directions. The results not only reveal the anisotropic nature of water liquefaction on the BP surface but also provide a way for fast and nondestructive determination of the crystalline orientation of BP.

Highlights

The growth and wetting of water on two-dimensional(2D) materials are important to understand the development of 2D material based electronic, optoelectronic, and nanomechanical devices
When the gas phase water coming out from the generator reaches the surface of the Si/SiO2 wafer carrying black phosphorus (BP) flakes, a phase change will happen there
10,000 μm Discussion In summary, the liquefaction process of water vapors on the surface of 2D materials was observed via optical microscope

Summary

Introduction

The growth and wetting of water on two-dimensional(2D) materials are important to understand the development of 2D material based electronic, optoelectronic, and nanomechanical devices. Many anisotropic behaviors of BP, including the optical, vibrational, electronic, thermal, and mechanical aspects[1,2,9,16,17,18,19,20,21,22], have been studied Such anisotropic properties of BP play a vital role in designing polyfunctional and controllable 2D innovative electronic, optoelectronic, and nanomechanical devices, which are impossible for other isotropic 2D layered materials[23]. In addition to optical methods, mechanical methods can be applied to distinguish the direction of BP, because the values of the Young’s modulus, breaking stress, and elastic modulus of BP are all higher in the ZZ direction than in the AC direction[22,26] These methods either rely on expensive equipment, sophisticated data collection and analysis, complex experimental design, or cause some damage to the structure of BP. Experimental results on this topic are rarely reported, especially for atomic layered materials with anisotropic properties, even though the anisotropic wetting characteristics of water droplets on black phosphorene has already been theoretically predicted[36,37]

Methods

Results

Conclusion