How do I move a gameObject to different layers?

Hi.

Been racking my brain trying to figure out how to do this but no such insight.

I want to have the player's gameObject switch layers on material change so that it avoid colliding with objects of the same material but don't know how.

I have the 2 materials in an array which are swapped on MouseDown. Here is the code I have so far:

void OnMouseDown() { index++; if(index >= materials.Length) index = 0; renderer.material = materials[index]; }

void playerShift() {

 if (GameObject.FindGameObjectWithTag("Player").renderer.material.name == "White")
     {
     gameObject.layer = LayerMask.NameToLayer("White"); // move to white layer 
     Debug.Log("layer switched to W");
     }
     
     else //(GameObject.Find("Sphere").renderer.material.name == "Black")
     {
     gameObject.layer = LayerMask.NameToLayer("Black"); // move to black layer 
     Debug.Log("layer switched to B");
     }

}

I call the playerShift function in the Update.

On another note. Should I separate this into its own script because at the moment its part the playerMovement script.

Thanks for any help or insight you can provide.