Rhenium disulfide


Rhenium disulfide is an inorganic compound of rhenium and sulfur with the formula ReS2. It has a layered structure where atoms are strongly bonded within each layer. The layers are held together by weak Van der Waals bonds, and can be easily peeled off from the bulk material.

Production

ReS2 is found in nature as the minearl rheniite. It can be synthesized from the reaction between rhenium and sulfur at 1000 °C, or the decomposition of rhenium sulfide at 1100 °C:
Nanostructured ReS2 can usually be achieved through mechanical exfoliation, chemical vapor deposition, and chemical and liquid exfoliations. Larger crystals can be grown with the assistance of liquid carbonate flux at high pressure. It is widely used in electronic and optoelectronic device, energy storage, photocatalytic and electrocatalytic reactions.

Properties

It is a two-dimensional group VII transition metal dichalcogenide. ReS2 was isolated down to monolayers which is only one unit cell in thickness for the first time in 2014. These monolayers have shown layer-independent electrical, optical, and vibrational properties much different from other TMDs.