Liquefaction of water on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic layered black phosphorus.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31492855.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11937-9 and PMC identifier 6731341.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The growth and wetting of water on two-dimensional(2D) materials are important to understand the development of 2D material based electronic, optoelectronic, and nanomechanical devices. Here, we visualize the liquefaction processes of water on the surface of graphene, MoS<sub>2</sub> and black phosphorus (BP) via optical microscopy. We show that the shape of the water droplets forming on the surface of BP, which is anisotropic, is elliptical. In contrast, droplets are rounded when they form on the surface of graphene or MoS<sub>2</sub>, which do not possess orthometric anisotropy. Molecular simulations show that the anisotropic liquefaction process of water on the surface of BP is attributed to the different binding energies of H<sub>2</sub>O molecules on BP along the armchair and zigzag directions. The results not only reveal the anisotropic nature of water liquefaction on the BP surface but also provide a way for fast and nondestructive determination of the crystalline orientation of BP.