2D Phosphorene nanoribbons promise battery boost

Researchers at University College London (UCL) have for the first time made flexible nanoribbons of crystalline phosphorus, which they claim could have a wide range of applications in energy storage and electronics.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers, alongside team members at the University of Bristol, Virginia Commonwealth University, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, describe how they produced the tiny ribbons of phosphorene by accident.

The researchers were attempting to produce two-dimensional sheets of phosphorene – the phosphorus equivalent of graphene – by mixing black phosphorus with lithium ions dissolved in liquid ammonia at -50 degrees Celsius. After 24 hours they removed the ammonia and replaced it with an organic solvent.

But instead of creating sheets, they found they had made ribbons of the material, according to UCL’s Chris Howard, one of the paper’s authors.

“In the meantime we noticed that papers kept coming out in the literature about really interesting, useful, and exotic properties that might be possible if only someone could make phosphorene ribbons,” said Howard.