Phosphorene, monolayer or few-layer black phosphorus, exhibits fascinating anisotropic properties and shows interesting semiconducting behavior. The synthesis of phosphorene nanosheets is still a hot topic, including the shaping of its two-dimensional structure into nanoribbons or nanobelts. Here we report electrochemical unzipping of single crystalline black phosphorus into zigzag-phosphorene nanobelts, as well as nanosheets and quantum dots, via an oxygen-driven mechanism. The experimental results agree well with our theoretical calculations. The calculation for the unzipping mechanism study suggests that interstitial oxygen-pairs are the critical intermediate species for generating zigzag-phosphorene nanobelts. Although phosphorene oxidation has been reported, lengthwise cutting is hitherto unreported. Our discovery of phosphorene cut upon oxidation represents a previously unknown mechanism for the formation of various dimensions of phosphorene nanostructures, especially zigzag-phosphorene nanobelts. It opens up a way for studying the quantum effects and electronic properties of zigzag-phosphorene nanobelts.

Flexible photodetectors have attracted much attention due to their great potentials in wearable electronics, bendable image sensors, and environmental monitoring, which requires functional components with good machinal properties. Herein, we introduced a novel metallic two-dimensional (2D) material, MXene, to form the electrodes by a spray-coating method and zero-dimensional (0D) PbS quantum dots (QDs) to work as photoactive layer. All solution-processable fabrication technique contributes to a simplified, low-cost and large-scale route to develop flexible photodetectors. Benefiting from the excellent conductivity of MXene electrodes and broadband photoresponse of PbS QDs, our devices realize a high detectivity up to $2.4\times10$ ¹¹ Jones and exhibit good stability even after 1000 bending cycles. This work provides a new device configuration with 2D electrodes and 0D photoactive layers for designing high-performance flexible electronics.

The detection of specific gas components under various working conditions while at the same time realizing other functions with the same devices has emerged through great efforts due to these devices’ superior energy-saving and high-efficiency properties. Although so-called multifunctional gas sensors have been fabricated with various novel materials, two-dimensional (2D) materials with unique physical and chemical properties used in multifunctional gas sensors have not yet been well studied. In this review, we summarize up-to-date multifunctional gas sensors based on different 2D materials, including graphene and its derivatives, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), MXenes, etc. The progress of machine learning and artificial intelligence used in emerging powerful sensors is introduced. Their sensing abilities and mechanisms are discussed, and further smart devices equipped with IoT platforms and 5G communication are expected for future electronic use.