EPITAXIAL GROWTH OF PHOSPHORUS ON METAL SUBSTRATES

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP) has emerged as a potential candidate for future electronic and optoelectronic applications due to its fascinating properties. However, the direct synthesis of BP is still lacking. This thesis systematically investigates the critical role of interfacial interactions on the growth of phosphorus and provides useful guidelines for phosphorus growth. We begin with the investigation of P/Cu(110) system to address the growth behaviors of phosphorus on a strongly interacting substrate. Then, phosphorus growth behaviors on a relatively weakly interacting Au(111) substrate were studied. The superstructure on Au(111) is revealed to be a monolayer (ML) phosphorus gold alloy. In order to dealloy blue phosphorus (BlueP), silicon intercalation was introduced for the successful synthesis of 1 × 1 BlueP on Au(111). Finally, by tuning the template structures of the phosphorus gold alloy on Au(111), we demonstrate the construction of both honeycomb and Kagome lattices of potassium atoms on the templates.