Epitaxial Growth of Phosphorus Nanostripe Arrays on Cu(110)

Black phosphorus has attracted significant attention as a new emerging two-dimensional (2D) material in recent years. New 2D phosphorus allotropes with various structures have also been predicted by theoretical calculations. It has been theoretically predicted that substrate plays a critical role in stabilizing phosphorus nanoflakes on surface. Here, we report a molecular-beam-epitaxial growth of phosphorus nanostripe arrays on Cu(110) by using black phosphorous as precursor, through the combination of in-situ low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), low energy electron diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Atomically resolved STM image and the corresponding DFT simulations reveal that phosphorus atoms are adsorbed on top of the valley copper atoms and arranged periodically to form nanostripe arrays. XPS and Bader charge analysis confirm a significant charge transfer from the Cu(110) substrate to P atoms on top.