the most commonly used nanosheet synthesis methods use a bottom-up approach, e.g., pre-organization and polymerization at interfaces like langmuir–blodgett films, solution phase synthesis and chemical vapor deposition (cvd). for example, cdte (cadmium telluride) nanosheets could be synthesized by precipitating and aging cdte nanoparticles in deionized water. the formation of free-floating cdte nanosheets was due to directional hydrophobic attraction and anisotropic electrostatic interactions caused by dipole moment and small positive charges. molecular simulations through a coarse-grained model with parameters from semi-empirical quantum mechanics calculations can be used to prove the experimental process.