New structures from exfoliated MoS2

Abstract

The restacking of exfoliated, single‐layer MoS₂ has led to many different structures. Here we describe the preparation of two new structures, of interest for their quite different properties. One is a ‘‘house‐of‐cards’’ structure, where the single layers restack with the circumference of one attracted to the basal plane of another layer, and with repulsion between basal planes, leading to a very open structure. The other structure is a highly oriented film, where, as a suspension of single layers dries, the layers deposit themselves parallel to a substrate. The house‐of‐cards structure is of interest because of its chemical activity in adsorption and catalysis, and the film may be of interest for its anisotropic optical and electrical behavior, or its application as a low friction coating.