*3.2. Experimental Set-Up*

Based on the furnace shown in Figure 1, the parameters for the experiments were optimized through a series of experiments, such as different reaction temperatures, reaction time, reaction gas atmosphere, modification of working tube, and a new feeding system. The optimization experiments were carried out without the feeding system, unless specifically stated. The products were collected from different areas separately, where the central 80 cm part of the quartz tube in the heated zone was defined as hot zone, the 60 cm part close to the gas inlet end was named as the inlet zone, and similarly the outlet zone, as also shown in Figure 1. Note that the reaction time could be varied mostly through the inclination of the quartz reactor, and the motor could drive the working quartz tube both clockwise and anti-clockwise. In such a way, the particles could be moved either backwards or forwards as required, to achieve sufficiently long reaction time.

The morphology and chemical composition of the as-produced IF-WS2 nanoparticles were analysed by XRD, SEM and TEM. The TEM samples were prepared via an ultrasonic treatment of the nanoparticles (randomly collected from hot zone) for 5 min in acetone, and the resultant uniform suspension was pipetted onto a holey carbon coated copper grid (300 mesh, Agar).
