Liquid Phase Exfoliation of Few-Layer Non-Van der Waals Chromium Sulfide

Exfoliation of 2D non-Van der Waals (non-vdW) semiconductor nanoplates (NPs) from inorganic analogs presents many challenges ahead for further exploring of their advanced applications on account of the strong bonding energies. In this study, the exfoliation of ultrathin 2D non-vdW chromium sulfide (2D Cr₂S₃) by means of a combined facile liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) method is successfully demonstrated. The morphology and structure of the 2D Cr₂S₃ material are systematically examined. Magnetic studies show an obvious temperature-dependent uncompensated antiferromagnetic behavior of 2D Cr₂S₃. The material is further loaded on TiO₂ nanorod arrays to form an S-scheme heterojunction. Experimental measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the formed TiO₂@Cr₂S₃ S-scheme heterojunction facilitates the separation and transmission of photo-induced electron/hole pairs, resulting in a significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity in the visible region.