Imprinted MoS2 achieve highly efficient self-separative molecule extraction

Imprinting is a biological process where a young animal acquires several of its behavioural characteristics from its parent and then follows themaround and is called filial imprinting. However, imprinting can implicitly be inside the materials that possess a suitable affinity to integrate themselves with the surrounding liquid environment. In this research, an example of imprinting in molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets was demonstrated. The as-prepared MoS2 containing a polar edge and low-polar plane faces on its flower-like morphology give it an imprinting ability to adhere to water or n-hexane. Therefore, imprinted MoS2 tends to retain the phase of the imprinting solvent, which is called solvent identification. More interestingly, imprinted MoS2 can in addition fulfill a highly efficient heterophasic extraction of rhodamine B (RhB) from water to n-hexane or lauric acid from n-hexane to water in seconds. At the same time, imprinted MoS2 solvent identification exhibits rapid self-separation after shaking, which avoids tedious centrifugation and filtration in a separation-purification process and makes it more convenient.