Single-Layered Hittorf's Phosphorus: A Wide-Bandgap High Mobility 2D Material

We propose here a two-dimensional material based on a single layer of violet or Hittorf's phosphorus. Using first principles density functional theory, we find it to be energetically very stable, comparable to other previously proposed single layered phosphorus structures. It requires only a small energetic cost of approximately 0.04 eV/atom to be created from its bulk structure, Hittorf's phosphorus, or a binding energy of 0.3-0.4 J/m(2) per layer, suggesting the possibility of exfoliation in experiments. We find single-layered Hittorf's phosphorus to be a wide band gap semiconductor with a direct band gap of approximately 2.5 eV, and our calculations show it is expected to have a high and highly anisotropic hole mobility with an upper bound lying between 3000-7000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). These combined properties make single-layered Hittorf's phosphorus a very good candidate for future applications in a wide variety of technologies, in particular for high frequency electronics, and optoelectronic devices operating in the low wavelength blue color range.