Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created sheets of transition metal chalcogenide “cubes” connected by chlorine atoms. While sheets of atoms have been widely studied e.g. graphene, the team’s work breaks new ground by using clusters instead. The team succeeded in forming nanoribbons inside carbon nanotubes for structural characterization, while also forming microscale sheets of cubes which could be exfoliated and probed. These were shown to be an excellent catalyst for generating hydrogen.
The findings have been published in Advanced Materials (“Superatomic layer of cubic Mo 4 S 4 clusters connected by Cl cross-linking”).
„ and show the arrangement of the nanosheet when viewed from different directions, respectively. (Image: Tokyo Metropolitan University)