Unexpected Persistent Production of Reactive Oxygen Species during the Degradation of Black Phosphorous in the Darkness

Few-layer black phosphorus (FLBP) is easily degraded under ambient conditions which is problem that hinders the application of FLBP, but its degradation mechanism is not yet well understood. In this work, we surprisingly found that persistent generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was involved in FLBP degradation even in the dark. The ROS generation patterns and mechanism were revealed by chemiluminescence (CL) and density functional theory (DFT). Meanwhile, rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) can also be removed by FLBP under dark conditions, which further shows the ROS generation during FLBP self-degradation. This work provides new insights into the FLBP self-degradation mechanism and opens opportunities to practically implement FLBP for green catalytic application.