Temperature dependent phonon shifts in few-layer black phosphorus

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) sheets of black phosphorus have attracted much attention due to their potential for future nanoelectronic and photonics device applications. Present investigations deal with the temperature dependent phonon shifts in a few-layer black phosphorus nanosheet sample prepared using micromechanical exfoliation on a 300 nm SiO2/Si substrate. The temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy experiments were carried out on a few-layer black phosphorus sample, which depicts softening of Ag(1), B2g, and Ag(2) modes as temperature increases from 77 to 673 K. The calculated temperature coefficients for Ag(1), B2g, and Ag(2) modes of the few-layer black phosphorus nanosheet sample were observed to be -0.01, -0.013, and -0.014 cm(-1) K(-1), respectively. The temperature dependent softening modes of black phosphorus results were explained on the basis of a double resonance process which is more active in an atomically thin sample. This process can also be fundamentally pertinent in other promising and emerging 2D ultrathin layer and heterostructured materials.