Maxime

Antimonene, a novel group 15 two-dimensional material, is functionalized with a tailormade perylene bisimide through strong van der Waals interactions. The functionalization process leads to a significant quenching of the perylene fluorescence, and surpasses that observed for either graphene or black phosphorus, thus allowing straightforward characterization of the flakes by scanning Raman microscopy. Furthermore, scanning photoelectron microscopy studies and theoretical calculations reveal a remarkable charge-transfer behavior, being twice that of black phosphorus. Moreover, the excellent stability under environmental conditions of pristine antimonene has been tackled, thus pointing towards the spontaneous formation of a sub-nanometric oxide passivation layer. DFT calculations revealed that the noncovalent functionalization of antimonene results in a charge-transfer band gap of 1.1 eV.

Flake off: Reported for the first time is the noncovalent functionalization of antimonene using perylene bisimides (PDI). The significant quenching of the fluorescence of the PDI allows straightforward characterization of the antimonene flakes deposited on Si/SiO₂ substrates. This work paves the way for the development of novel applications based on antimonene by tailoring its electronic properties.