Wang, YanLiu, YangZhang, JianfangWu, JingjieXu, HuiWen, XiewenZhang, XiangTiwary, Chandra SekharYang, WeiVajtai, RobertZhang, YongChopra, NitinOdeh, Ihab NizarWu, YuchengAjayan, Pulickel M.2018-06-272018-06-272017Wang, Yan, Liu, Yang, Zhang, Jianfang, et al.. "Cryo-mediated exfoliation and fracturing of layered materials into 2D quantum dots." <i>Science Advances,</i> 3, no. 12 (2017) AAAS: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701500.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/102283Atomically thin quantum dots from layered materials promise new science and applications, but their scalable synthesis and separation have been challenging. We demonstrate a universal approach for the preparation of quantum dots from a series of materials, such as graphite, MoS2, WS2, h-BN, TiS2, NbS2, Bi2Se3, MoTe2, Sb2Te3, etc., using a cryo-mediated liquid-phase exfoliation and fracturing process. The method relies on liquid nitrogen pretreatment of bulk layered materials before exfoliation and breakdown into atomically thin two-dimensional quantum dots of few-nanometer lateral dimensions, exhibiting size-confined optical properties. This process is efficient for a variety of common solvents with a wide range of surface tension parameters and eliminates the use of surfactants, resulting in pristine quantum dots without surfactant covering or chemical modification.engThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.Journal articlee1701500.fullhttps://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701500