Large-scale exfoliation of inorganic layered compounds in aqueous surfactant solutions

A method to exfoliate MoS₂ in large quantities in surfactant-water solutions is described. The layered material tends to be exfoliated as dispersions of thin, relatively defect-free flakes with lateral sizes of hundreds of nanometers. This method can be extended to a range of other layered compounds. The dispersed flakes can be mixed with nanotubes or graphene to greate functional hybrid materials.