In 1914 black phosphorus, a layered, semiconducting allotrope of phosphorus, was synthesized. This allotrope exhibits high carrier mobility. In 2014, several groups isolated single-layer phosphorene, a monolayer of black phosphorus. It attracted renewed attention because of its potential in optoelectronics and electronics due to its band gap, which can be tuned via modifying its thickness, anisotropic photoelectronic properties and carrier mobility. Phosphorene was initially prepared using mechanical cleavage, a commonly used technique in graphene production.
In 2023, alloys of arsenic-phosphorene displayed higher hole mobility than pure phosphorene and were also magnetic.