  Phosphorus is one of the most abundant elements preserved in earth,
constructing with a fraction of ~0.1% of the earth crust. In general,
phosphorus has several allotropes. The two most commonly seen allotropes, white
and red phosphorus, are widely used in explosives and safety matches. In
addition, black phosphorus, though rarely mentioned, is a layered semiconductor
and have great potentials in optical and electronic applications. Remarkably,
this layered material can be reduced to one single atomic layer in the vertical
direction owing to the van der Waals structure, known as phosphorene, where the
physical properties can be tremendously different from its bulk counterpart. In
this review article, we trace back to the 100 years research history on black
phosphorus from the synthesis to material properties, and extend the topic from
black phosphorus to phosphorene. The physical and transport properties are
highlighted, aiming at further applications in electronic and optoelectronics
devices.
