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Exfoliation of bulk 2H-MoS2 into bilayer 1T-phase nanosheets via ether-induced superlattices

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Abstract

The exfoliation of bulk 2H-molybdenum disulfide (2H-MoS2) into few-layer nanosheets with 1T-phase and controlled layers represents a daunting challenge towards the device applications of MoS2. Conventional ion intercalation assisted exfoliation needs the use of hazardous n-butyllithium and/or elaborate control of the intercalation potential to avoid the decomposition of the MoS2. This work reports a facile strategy by intercalating Li ions electrochemically with ether-based electrolyte into the van der Waals (vdW) channels of MoS2, which successfully avoids the decomposition of MoS2 at low potentials. The co-intercalation of Li+ and the ether solvent into MoS2 makes a first-order phase transformation, forming a superlattice phase, which preserves the layered structure and hence enables the exfoliation of bulk 2H-MoS2 into bilayer nanosheets with 1T-phase. Compared with the pristine 2H-MoS2, the bilayer 1T-MoS2 nanosheets exhibit better electrocatalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This facile method should be easily extended to the exfoliation of various transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12374003), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2022A1515012349), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Nos. RCBS20200714114920129 and JCYJ20220531095208019), and the Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Project (No. 2023A03J0003).

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  1. Xiuling Shi and Dongmei Lin contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Xiuling Shi, Zhuorui Xiao, Yibo Weng, Hanxiang Zhou, Xiaoying Long, Zhiyu Ding, Fuyuan Liang, Yan Huang & Kaikai Li

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Research Institute for Smart Energy, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Dongmei Lin & Guohua Chen

  3. School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Guohua Chen

  4. Guangzhou Municipal Key Laboratory of Materials Informatics, Advanced Materials Thrust and Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Nansha, Guangzhou, 511400, China

    Tong-Yi Zhang

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  1. Xiuling Shi
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Correspondence to Kaikai Li or Tong-Yi Zhang.

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Shi, X., Lin, D., Xiao, Z. et al. Exfoliation of bulk 2H-MoS2 into bilayer 1T-phase nanosheets via ether-induced superlattices. Nano Res. 17, 5705–5711 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6446-3

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