TGA: Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements were performed on a Netzsch STA 409 PC Luxx thermogravimetric analyzer. Nanomonolayer samples were dried to a powder and portions of (10 ± 2) mg were loaded in an Al₂O₃ crucible. Tungsten thiolates were dried similarly before being diluted to an approximate concentration of 10% in a matrix of powdered alumina. Samples were heated from 25 ᵒC to 550 ᵒC at a rate of 10.0 ᵒC/min under flow of nitrogen gas. FTIR: Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements were performed on an IR Affinity -1 Shimizu FII spectrophotometer with MIRacle natural diamond ATR -PIKE. Different samples were drop-casted directly onto the crystal optic. Concentrated solutions of WS2 nanomonolayers were dried on top of the crystal optic. The range of measurement was 600-4000 wavenumber (cm -1 ) and the acquisition time for each sample was 300 s. SAXS: Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were carried out on a XENOCS Xeuss 3.0 instrument using a fixed tension of 50 kV, a current of 0.6 mA, and a sample-to-detector distance of 0.28 m. The typical accessible range of scattering vector modulus q was 0.01 to 1 Å -1 , for q=(4π/λ) sin(θ), where 2θ is the scattering angle and λ = 1.54 Å is the wavelength. The intensity was radially averaged to yield intensity versus q data. Typical exposure times were 300 seconds, repeated for 5 scans before being averaged and background-corrected with the corresponding solvent blank. For aggregated samples, colloidal dispersions were destabilized using varying amounts of ethanol (10%v/v, 20%v/v or 50%v/v), and loaded into glass capillaries.