Toward Exploring the Structure of Monolayer to Few-layer TaS(2) by Efficient Ultrasound-free Exfoliation

Tantalum disulfide nanosheets have attracted great interest due to its electronic properties and device applications. Traditional solution-ased ultrasonic process is limited by ultrasound which may cause the disintegration into submicron-sized flake. Here, an efficient multi-step intercalation and ultrasound-free process has been successfully used to exfoliate 1T-TaS(2). The obtained TaS(2) nanosheets reveal an average thickness of 3 nm and several micrometers in size. The formation of few-layer TaS(2) nanosheets as well as monolayer TaS(2) sheets is further confirmed by atomic force microscopy images. The few-layer TaS(2) nanosheets remain the 1T structure, whereas monolayer TaS(2) sheets show lattice distortion and may adopt the 1H-like structure with trigonal prism coordination. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s11671-018-2439-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.