Phosphorene nanoribbons find their first use in a solar cell just 3 years after discovery

Phosphorene nanoribbons – a promising material synthesised just three years ago – have already found their first application.¹ ‘It is impressive that such excellent results have come through [the] pipeline so rapidly,’ comments David Lewis from the University of Manchester, UK, who was not involved in the study.

Phosphorene is a monolayer material obtained by exfoliating black phosphorus crystals. Nanoribbons made from phosphorene are a layer of atoms thick , however unlike 2D sheets they’re only tens of atoms wide, explains Chris Howard from University College London, UK, co-author on this paper. Howard’s team first isolated and characterised these structures in 2019.² ‘Our work was motivated by hundreds of theory papers predicting extraordinary properties for phosphorene nanoribbons,’ he says.