Strain-tunable van der Waals interactions in few-layer black phosphorus

Abstract

Layered materials governed by van der Waals (vdW) interactions offer opportunities for interlayer tuning of the materials' properties. Here, the authors demonstrate that in-plane tensile strain can effectively tune the vdW interactions of few-layered black phosphorus and weaken its interlayer coupling even though the sample shrinks in the vertical direction.