Concentration profiles and structural changes of silver intercalated titanium disulfide

For the purpose of studying the concentration profile of partially intercal ated silver in the layered crystal TiS2, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ( XPS) was combined with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) using t he Nuclear Microprobe at the MicroAnalytical Research Centre, University of Melbourne. The XPS measurements show 4-5 atomic layers of silver on the su rface of the Ag,TiS2 compound. The RBS data exhibit a sharp intercalation f ront. Silver was found to be present over the whole investigated area of th e crystal but to a depth of 100 nm only. In deeper layers the intercalation was restricted to the border zone close to the prism edge. The width of th is zone increased with intercalation time. In addition, channeling measurem ents demonstrate that the intercalation of silver into the TiS2 crystals re sults in a deterioration of the crystal quality. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.