Tungsten disulfide nanoplatelets (WS₂) belong to the class of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which are widely utilized as solid lubricants and chemical catalysts. Their crystal structure has an arrangement in which the sheets of W atoms are sandwiched in between the two planes of S atoms. WS₂ has a good polymorphic property that allows tungsten atoms to be covalently bonded with six adjacent sulfur atoms. It also has a good electronic property that makes it useful in optoelectronics applications.

Owing to the thickness dependent physical and chemical properties, the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) based two dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have drawn significant attention recently. The atomically thin layers of MoS₂ and WS₂ represent important class of TMD based 2D-material and they find applications in photocatalysis, phtotovoltaics, gas sensing, lithium ion batteries, field effect transistors, spintronics etc.