Measuring the lateral size of liquid-exfoliated nanosheets with dynamic light scattering

We have developed an in situ method to estimate the lateral size of exfoliated nanosheets dispersed in a liquid. Using standard liquid exfoliation and size-selection techniques, we prepared a range of dispersions of graphene, MoS2 and WS2 nanosheets with different mean lateral sizes. The mean nanosh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanotechnology 2013-07, Vol.24 (26), p.265703-1-6
Main Authors: Lotya, Mustafa, Rakovich, Aliaksandra, Donegan, John F, Coleman, Jonathan N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Correlation
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Dispersions
Exact sciences and technology
Fullerenes and related materials
diamonds, graphite
Light scattering
Materials science
Molybdenum disulfide
Nanocomposites
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
Physics
Specific materials
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:We have developed an in situ method to estimate the lateral size of exfoliated nanosheets dispersed in a liquid. Using standard liquid exfoliation and size-selection techniques, we prepared a range of dispersions of graphene, MoS2 and WS2 nanosheets with different mean lateral sizes. The mean nanosheet length was measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to vary from ∼40 nm to ∼1 μm. These dispersions were characterized using a standard dynamic light scattering (DLS) instrument. We found a well-defined correlation between the peak of the particle size distribution as outputted by the DLS instrument and the nanosheet length as measured by TEM. This correlation is consistent with the DLS instrument outputting the radius of a sphere with volume equal to the mean nanosheet volume. This correlation allows the mean nanosheet length to be extracted from DLS data.
ISSN:0957-4484
1361-6528
DOI:10.1088/0957-4484/24/26/265703