Market study of effective synthesis of few-layer black phosphorous nanosheets

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As a new member, black phosphorus (BP) emerges as the next "big thing" following graphene in the world of 2-dimensional (2D) materials. But contrary to graphene that has a zero bandgap, BP nanosheets show a direct, size-tunable bandgap, depending on the number of layers. This feature makes BP attractive for many applications, in particular in electronics, as it overcomes the key challenge of graphene in electronics. Considering the huge market of graphene (the global graphene market is expected to reach USD 278.47 Million by 2020, with a growth rate of 42.8% from 2015 to 2020 according to MarketsAndMarkets), the market prospect of BP nanosheets is limitless. ** For the preparation of few-layer BP nanosheets, the mechanical and liquid exfoliation methods from bulk BP have been extensively used. The labor intensive nature of the mechanical method restricts its commercial application. As for the liquid exfoliation, it normally requires long processing time or a sonicator with high power. Howbeit the yield of few-layer BP nanosheets is still very low with both techniques of exfoliation.** Researchers at INRS have recently invented and developed a novel, time-effective exfoliation method to prepare few-layer BP nanosheets. This new method leads to the greatly improved yield (75%) of few-layer BP nanosheets, and largely reduced duration (<2h) and power (70 W) for liquid exfoliation from bulk BP, as compared to all the previously reported methods. Over 90% of the obtained BP nanosheets have the thickness of less than 10 nm. ** The method is thus effective in time, energy inputs and yield. Therefore, it is quite cost-effective. It is also highly reproducible and easily operatable. Last but not least, the method can also be further scaled up for large-scale synthesis, which is highly relevant for industry applications. All these advantages justify the proposed market study.******************