Disassembly of 2D Vertical Heterostructures

As one of the most widely discussed fields, the assembly of nanomaterials has always been extensively studied. However, its inverse process, namely disassembly, is still limited in the ambit of biomolecules. Specifically, in the emerging 2D research field, disassembly still remains unexplored. Inspired by the disassembly of DNA molecules via breaking intermolecular hydrogen bonds, the disassembly of 2D vertical heterostructures (2DVHs) is first achieved through the weakening of the interlayer van der Waals interactions. As a demonstration, ReS₂/WS₂ VHs is successfully disassembled into individual building blocks. Density functional theory calculations are performed to study the disassembly of the 2DVHs, which simulate that 2DVHs are first activated by the disassembly promoters and then disassembled with weakened interlayer van der Waals interactions. Such a disassembly process demonstrates that it has great potential to be expanded as a general strategy to achieve the disassembly of other 2D superstructures.