Patent ID: 8114373

Claim:
A method of exfoliating a layered material to produce nano-scaled platelets having a thickness smaller than 100 nm, said method comprising: a) subjecting said layered material to a halogen vapor at a first temperature between the melting point or sublimation point of said halogen with a halogen vapor pressure and for a duration of time sufficient to cause said halogen to penetrate an interlayer space of said layered material for forming a stable halogen-intercalated compound, wherein said layered material comprises a layered inorganic compound selected from the group consisting of (a) clay; (b) bismuth selenide or telluride; (c) transition metal dichalcogenide; (d) sulfide, selenide, and telluride of niobium, molybdenum, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, and rhenium; (e) layered transition metal oxide; (f) pre-intercalated compounds, and combinations thereof; and wherein said halogen is selected from the group consisting of iodine bromide, bromine chloride, iodine pentafluoride, bromine trifluoride, chlorine trifluoride, phosphorus trichloride, phosphorus tetrachloride, phosphorus tribromide, phosphorus triiodide or a combination thereof, or in combinations with a diatomic halogen selected from the group consisting of bromine or iodine and b) mixing said halogen-intercalated compound in a liquid medium which is subjected to ultrasonication for exfoliating said intercalated compound to produce the platelets and for dispersing said platelets in said liquid medium.