The physical and chemical properties of phosphorene oxide including its formation by oxygen adsorption on the bare phosphorene was investigated.

Two dimensional (2D) materials with a finite band gap and high carrier mobility are sought after materials from both fundamental and technological perspectives. In this paper, we present the results based on the particle swarm optimization method and density functional theory which predict three geometrically different phases of the carbon phosphide (CP) monolayer consisting of sp² hybridized C atoms and sp³ hybridized P atoms in hexagonal networks. Two of the phases, referred to as α-CP and β-CP with puckered or buckled surfaces are semiconducting with highly anisotropic electronic and mechanical properties. More remarkably, they have the lightest electrons and holes among the known 2D semiconductors, yielding superior carrier mobility. The γ-CP has a distorted hexagonal network and exhibits a semi-metallic behavior with Dirac cones. These theoretical findings suggest that the binary CP monolayer is a yet unexplored 2D material holding great promise for applications in high-performance electronics and optoelectronics.

Phosphorene is emerging as a promising 2D semiconducting material with a direct band gap and high carrier mobility. In this paper, we examine the role of the extrinsic point defects including surface adatoms in modifying the electronic properties of phosphorene using density functional theory. The surface adatoms considered are B, C, N, O, and F with a [He] core electronic configuration. Our calculations show that B and C, with electronegativity close to P, prefer to break the sp³ bonds of phosphorene and reside at the interstitial sites in the 2D lattice by forming sp² like bonds with the native atoms. On the other hand, N, O, and F, which are more electronegative than P, prefer the surface sites by attracting the lone pairs of phosphorene. B, N, and F adsorption will also introduce local magnetic moment to the lattice. Moreover, B, C, N, and F adatoms will modify the band gap of phosphorene, yielding metallic transverse tunneling characters. Oxygen does not modify the band gap of phosphorene, and a diode like tunneling behavior is observed. Our results therefore offer a possible route to tailor the electronic and magnetic properties of phosphorene by the adatom functionalization and provide the physical insights of the environmental sensitivity of phosphorene, which will be helpful to experimentalists in evaluating the performance and aging effects of phosphorene-based electronic devices.