The intercalation of layered compounds opens up a vast space of new host–guest hybrids, providing new routes for tuning the properties of materials. Here, it is shown that uniform and continuous layers of copper can be intercalated within the van der Waals gap of bulk MoS₂ resulting in a unique Cu–MoS₂ hybrid. The new Cu–MoS₂ hybrid, which remains semiconducting, possesses a unique plasmon resonance at an energy of ≈1eV, giving rise to enhanced optoelectronic activity. Compared with high‐performance MoS₂ photodetectors, copper‐enhanced devices are superior in their spectral response, which extends into the infrared, and also in their total responsivity, which exceeds 10⁴ A W⁻¹. The Cu–MoS₂ hybrids hold promise for supplanting current night‐vision technology with compact, advanced multicolor night vision.

In this study, samples of zircaloy-2 were irradiated with oxygen ion beam (O⁵⁺ ions with 116 MeV energy) to fluence varying from 10¹³ to 10¹⁵ ion/cm². The irradiated samples were observed under a transmission electron microscope to identify the irradiation-induced defects and phase transformations. Microstructural investigations on these samples showed the presence of interstitial defects and ZrO₂ precipitates in the α (hcp) matrix. The alignment of defects appeared to facilitate the formation of the ZrO₂ phase in the irradiated samples. Orientation relationship between the oxide and the matrix phase was determined and a possible mechanism for the formation of the ZrO₂ phase based on the entrapment of the oxygen ions has been proposed.