An easy route to synthesize high-quality black phosphorus from amorphous red phosphorus

The development of an easy and efficient process for producing black phosphorus (BP) remains a bottleneck for the use of BP in large-scale applications. In this work, we present a simple, potentially scalable, and economically viable method for the preparation of high-quality BP from amorphous red phosphorus. BP was synthesized under low pressure and temperature conditions from red phosphorus via the addition of small quantities of copper, tin, and tin(IV) iodide. Characterization by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and Raman spectroscopy were performed to confirm the high quality and purity of the formed BP.