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ISU and Ames Laboratory researchers have developed a method for easily creating interlayer solid solutions of mixed metal chalcogenides.

Mixed metal chalcogenides have numerous applications as oil lubricant additives, photocatalysts, battery materials, super-capacitor electrodes thermoelectric materials, hydrogen storage materials and in a number of photoelectronic materials.  The currently available routes for obtaining these compounds in an interlayer solid solution are either expensive or difficult to scale. Iowa State University researchers, in conjunction with Ames Laboratory, have developed  methods for creating these valuable materials through simple and cheap mechanical means, exploiting mechanical exfoliation of metal chalcogenides in the liquid or solid phase.  Using these techniques, ISU researchers were able to gain access to mixed metal chalcogenides that were previously unreported, primary through the mixing of two binary chalcogenides to create a mixed metal/mixed chalcogenides. This high-throughput method is expected to reduce cost and complexity of production and is able to support easy adoption into industrial production.

This technology is related to ISURF 4811: Electrocatalyst for water electrolysis

• Cheap and simple manufacturing

• Easily scalable

Batteries, energy storage, photovoltaics, lubricants