What is special about phosphorene?
There is
rising interest in phosphorene, a 2D monolayer of black
phosphorus, for electronic applications in the post-graphene era.
Phosphorene can be exfoliated from bulk black phosphorus in the
same way as graphene from bulk graphite. Phosphorene is stable and,
unlike graphene, displays a nonzero fundamental band gap. Early
observations indicate that carrier mobility in phosphorene is rather
high; even though it does not measure up to the semimetallic
graphene, it appears to be superior to transition metal
dichalcogenides such as MoS2. Properties similar to
phosphorous are being uncovered also in other layered allotropes
of group V elements and isoelectronic systems.
