Facile Solvothermal Synthesis of Black Phosphorus Nanosheets from Red Phosphorus for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Graphical A facial one-step solvothermal synthesis of black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets from red phosphorus under common laboratory conditions is developed. The efficiency of the phase transition is very high, and the obtained BP nanosheets can be up to 2.1 g for one batch. The as-prepared BP nanosheets show highly efficient photocatalytic performance. In this work, we report a facial one-step solvothermal synthesis of BP nanosheets from red phosphorus based on common laboratory conditions at low temperature. This bottom-up approach for the direct preparation of BP nanosheets can be up to 2.1 g for one batch and the efficiency of the phase transition is up to 100 %. The as-prepared BP nanosheets show highly efficient photocatalytic performance. Its efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water is 40.6 times higher than that of red phosphorus precursor and is close to the well-known C 3 N 4 nanosheets. Therefore, we firmly believe that this facile, scalable, and low-cost approach opens a new route to prepare black phosphorus nanosheets and will take a step to the rapid development and applications of this unique 2D material.