Narrow Directed Black Phosphorus Nanoribbons Produced by A Reformative Mechanical Exfoliation Approach

Black phosphorus nanoribbons (PNRs) are ideal candidates for constructing electronic and optoelectronic devices owing to their unique structure and high bandgap tunability. However, the preparation of high-quality narrow PNRs aligned along the same direction is very challenging. Here, a reformative mechanical exfoliation approach combining tape and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) exfoliations to fabricate high-quality, narrow, and directed PNRs with smooth edges for the first time is developed. In this method, partially-exfoliated PNRs are first formed on thick black phosphorus (BP) flakes via the tape exfoliation and further peeled off to obtain separated PNRs via the PDMS exfoliation. The prepared PNRs have widths from a dozen to hundreds of nanometers (down to 15 nm) and a mean length of 18 µm. It is found that the PNRs can align along a same direction and the length directions of directed PNRs are along the zigzag direction. The formation of PNRs is attributed to that the BP prefers to be unzipped along the zigzag direction and has an appropriate magnitude of interaction force with the PDMS substrate. The fabricated PNR/MoS₂ heterojunction diode and PNR field-effect transistor exhibit good device performance. This work provides a new pathway to achieve high-quality, narrow, and directed PNRs for electronic and optoelectronic applications.