(a) Surface tension of water–alcohol mixture at various weight fraction at 25 °C (refs 32,33). Tested solvents: MET (black squares), ETA (red circles), IPA (blue triangles), TBA (purple inverted triangles). (b,c) Contact angles of various cosolvents (water-alcohols) on HOPG (b) and MoS2 (c). (d) Photographs of contact angle measurements of water–IPA cosolvent system at various concentrations on graphite. (e,f) The calculated decrease in solid–liquid interfacial energy (γlgcosθc) based on Young’s equation shows a thermodynamic minimum occurring at surface tension of 30–35 mJ m−2 for both HOPG (e) and MoS2 (f).