Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted increasing interest in the last few years due to their unique morphology and properties and their use in a variety of applications, ranging from electronics to energy storage or catalysis, to name a few. Apart from various well-established 2D materials, such as graphene, h-BN, or MoS₂, black phosphorus (BP) has received considerable attention over the last two years because its direct bandgap and his appealing properties for electronic and ultrafast optoelectronic applications. However, its lack of environmental stability severely limits its synthesis and processing.

We have recently demonstrated that high-quality, few-layer BP nanosheets, with controllable size and observable photoluminescence, can be produced in large quantities by liquid phase exfoliation under ambient conditions.¹ Beyond this success, a more sophisticated chemical modification is highly desirable, like the molecular doping, that is an effective and flexible method towards modulating the electronic properties of 2D materials. Herein, we have developed a chemical route for the non-covalent functionalization of BP with different moieties, including electron-withdrawing organic molecules or tailor-made surfactants.² Moreover we have extended these concepts towards a new 2D material: antimonene, creating stable suspensions in water and developing its non-covalent functionalization.³

1) D. Hanlon, C. Backes, E. Doherty, C. S. Cucinotta, N. C. Berner, C. Boland, K. Lee, A. Harvey, P. Lynch, Z. Gholamvand, S. F. Zhang, K. P. Wang, G. Moynihan, A. Pokle, Q. M. Ramasse, N. McEvoy, W. J. Blau, J. Wang, G. Abellan, F. Hauke, A. Hirsch, S. Sanvito, D. D. O’Regan, G. S. Duesberg, V. Nicolosi, J. N. Coleman, Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 8563.

2) G. Abellán, V. Lloret, U. Mundloch, M. Marcia, C. Neiss, A. Görling, M. Varela, F. Hauke, A. Hirsch, Angew. Chem. In. Ed., 2016, 55 (47), 14557.

3) C. Gibaja, D. Rodriguez-San-Miguel, P. Ares, J. Gómez-Herrero, M. Varela, R. Gillen, J. Maultzsch, F. Hauke, A. Hirsch, G. Abellán, F. Zamora, Angew. Chem. In. Ed., 2016, 55 (46), 14345.