Black phosphorous nanosheets: Prospective field emitter

We report for the first time field electron emission investigations on few layered black phosphorous nanosheets emitter´s synthesized using chemical method with thickness ~2-5 nm. The turn-on electric field required to draw an emission current density of ~10 μA/cm² was found to be ~4.2 V/μm. Furthermore, a few layer black phosphorous nanosheets emitter deliver an large emission current density of ~170 μA/cm² at an applied field of ~7.5 V/μm. The emission current versus time plot measured at the preset current values of ~5 μA shows field emission current fluctuations within ± 10% of the average value indicating the well stable nature of black phosphorous field emitter. Thus, the two dimensional black phosphorous nanosheets synthesized using simple electrochemical exfoliation method can be realized and utilized for the next generation micro/nanoelectronics and flat panel field emission based display applications.