Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted considerable attention for use in flexible electronics, coatings, nanocomposites, photonics, charge transportation layers, and catalysis applications due to their complimentary properties relative to other low dimensional nanomaterials (e.g. graphene, BN, aluminosilicates, phosphenes, etc.) Here, we demonstrate a novel methodology for the exfoliation of bulk crystallites of Group V-VII TMD materials under quiescent, bench-top conditions using mild redox chemistry associated with TMD edge-sites in high di-electric solvents. Exfoliation is accomplished via generation of anionic polyoxometalate species in-situ that adsorb to the TMD surface creating a coulombic repulsion that drives layer separation without the use of shear forces. Stable, surfactant-free dispersions (&gt; 1mg/mL) can be obtained in processible solvents such as ethanol and acetonitrile allowing for development of robust surface chemistries (diazonium coupling) for functional nanomaterials. Additionally, we demonstrate facile formulation of nano-composites in polymers (50 w/w% TMD in PVA), liquid crystal networks (1 w/w% in RM82), or rapid thin film production (flow coating) with preservation of optical properties, evidenced by the presence of single-layer photoluminescence in MoS2 and WSe2 composites.

Redox exfoliation of layered transition metal dichalcogenides

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.