Exfoliated single molecular layers of Mn0.8PS3 and Cd0.8PS3

The layered compounds MnPS3 and CdPS3 were exfoliated to form single molecular layers of Mn0.8PS3 and Cd0.8PS3 in suspension in water by ion exchange. The x-ray diffraction patterns of the two single-layer suspensions showed profound differences in some of the Bragg peaks, and we demonstrated that the differences are not due to the quality or size of the single layers, but are caused by structure factor modulations of the Warren tail for two-dimensional systems. We also demonstrated that the Cd or Mn vacancies generated in the exfoliation process are not ordered at long range, in contrast to an earlier report of vacancy ordering on intercalated MnPS3.