@article{7a5e13497c5a4590b444fc6d8d915265,
title = "Reversible and selective ion intercalation through the top surface of few-layer MoS2 ",
abstract = "Electrochemical intercalation of ions into the van der Waals gap of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials is a promising low-temperature synthesis strategy to tune their physical and chemical properties. It is widely believed that ions prefer intercalation into the van der Waals gap through the edges of the 2D flake, which generally causes wrinkling and distortion. Here we demonstrate that the ions can also intercalate through the top surface of few-layer MoS2 and this type of intercalation is more reversible and stable compared to the intercalation through the edges. Density functional theory calculations show that this intercalation is enabled by the existence of natural defects in exfoliated MoS2 flakes. Furthermore, we reveal that sealed-edge MoS2 allows intercalation of small alkali metal ions (e.g., Li+ and Na+) and rejects large ions (e.g., K+). These findings imply potential applications in developing functional 2D-material-based devices with high tunability and ion selectivity.",
author = "Jinsong Zhang and Ankun Yang and Xi Wu and {van de Groep}, Jorik and Peizhe Tang and Shaorui Li and Bofei Liu and Feifei Shi and Jiayu Wan and Qitong Li and Yongming Sun and Zhiyi Lu and Xueli Zheng and Guangmin Zhou and Wu, {Chun Lan} and Zhang, {Shou Cheng} and Brongersma, {Mark L.} and Jia Li and Yi Cui",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (contract no. DE-AC02–76SF00515). This work was also supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFB0701600 and 2014CB932400), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11874036) and Shenzhen Projects for Basic Research (Grant No. JCYJ20170412171430026). Tianjin Supercomputing Center is acknowledged for allowing the use of computational resources including TIANHE-1. J.G. and M.L.B. acknowledge support from the Department of Energy Grant DE-FG07-ER46426. Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS-1542152. J.Z. and A. Y. acknowledge helpful discussions with Dr. Xiao-Xiao Zhang. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, The Author(s).",
year = "2018",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-018-07710-z",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "9",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}