Black phosphorous sample preparation for ultrafast electron diffraction studies

Abstract: Since 2004 when mechanical exfoliation was first utilised to produce single layered samples of graphite, 2D materials have gained interest in the scientific community. With the prerequisite that the initial bulk material has a layered structure, these 2D materials have created an opportunity to examine materials on a very small scale as well as opening the possibility of creating smaller electrical components for industrial and commercial use, with well-known and documented parameters. Graphene is known to be strong and is used for batteries, while black phosphorus has potential as a semiconductor, due to the variable band gap, which is dependent on the number of layers of the material, as well as good mobility. In this project, the goal is to identify a method for mechanically exfoliating samples of graphite and black phosphorus and suspending these, by transferring the samples to a copper grid. These suspended samples are prepared for the purpose of experiments using ultrafast electron diffraction. This type of experiment is used to understand heating of a material for optronics applications.