Excellent air and water stability of two-dimensional black phosphorene/MXene heterostructure

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as black phosphorene (BP) and MXene (Ti₃C₂), have attracted great attention in recent years because of their good application prospects in photocatalytic, field-effect transistor and energy storage etc. However, the poor chemical stability of 2D meterials limits their potential performance because their structures are easily destroyed when they were exposed to air and water. Hence, it is very important and necessary to settle the air and water instability of 2D materials. 2D heterostructures, assembly combined with bare 2D materials, which have shown outstanding properties due to their synergistic effect. In this work, the bare BP and Ti₃C₂ were prepared and then combined into a 2D BP/Ti₃C₂ heterostructure. The stabilities of bare BP, Ti₃C₂ and BP/Ti₃C₂ heterostructure were evaluated by the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra, XPS and optical microscopy. To our surprise, the stability of the 2D BP/Ti₃C₂ heterostructure was superior to that of the bare BP and Ti₃C₂. The reason why 2D BP/Ti₃C₂ heterostructure has excellent stability was that it formed P-O-Ti bonds between BP and Ti₃C₂. Because of its excellent air and water stability, the 2D BP/Ti₃C₂ heterostructure can be used in many fields such as photocatalytic, field-effect transistor and energy storage. (paper)