Intercalation islands and stage conversion in Ag-TiS2

Abstract
The conversion of stage 1 into stage 2 for thin TiS2 crystals partially intercalated with Ag has been observed at room temperature using electron microprobe x-ray fluorescence. The results are consistent with the Daumas-Hérold island model for staging and show that in the stage conversion the stage-1 region acts as a source of moving stage-2 Ag islands. A simple regular island configuration with wedge-shaped intercalation fronts is used to determine an island size around 130 Å for stage-2 Ag in TiS2.