Bartuś, Szymon P.; (2025) Production of Fibrous Phosphorus Nanofibers. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Production of new nanostructured materials with interesting properties often relies on splitting a bulk solid crystal into its constituent structural units, as was the case for graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials. The aim of this thesis was to obtain fibrous phosphorus nanotubes, with dimensions 1.1 nm × 0.6 nm, by exfoliating fibrous phosphorus crystals into their constituent building blocks. Fibrous phosphorus is a relatively exotic form of this element, where tubular units are weakly bonded together in its crystal structure. Two liquid phase methods were tested to achieve that goal, both based on using reducing agents – metal naphthalides and metal-ammonia solutions – to obtain soluble polyphosphide anions. It was found that metal naphthalides do not improve the ability of fibrous phosphorus to be dispersed or dissolved. On the other hand, fibrous phosphorus treated with metal-ammonia solutions could be dispersed by gentle ultrasonication in amide solvents to produce suspensions of extremely long (tens of microns) and thin (typically tens of nanometers) nanofibers. Furthermore, a small fraction of these fibers has thickness comparable with a single phosphorus nanotube, showing that such thin fibers can stably exist. These results are a step towards the goal of obtaining individual fibrous phosphorus nanotubes and the same methods can also be used for similar one-dimensional materials.

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