The performance of transistors made of black phosphorus can be maintained with the addition of tellurium.

Layers of black phosphorus just a few molecules thick show great promise in advanced electronic devices. But exposure to oxygen and moisture causes damaging corrosion and bubbles to form within days. To avoid this, Zhongyuan Liu of Yanshan University in Qinhuangdao, China, and his colleagues produced samples of the material that were doped with the rare metalloid tellurium. This slowed bubble growth, and the material retained 50% of its conductivity after three weeks, whereas the undoped versions retained only 2%.

Similar approaches could allow black phosphorus to be used in high-performance batteries and computer memory, the authors say.

Adv. Mater. http://doi.org/f3rcsr (2016)