Structural and optical studies of hydrothermally synthesized MoS2 nanostructures

Abstract

Transition-metal dichalcogenides like molybdenum disulphide have intrigued intensive interest as two-dimensional (2D) materials beyond extensively studied graphene due to their unique electronic and optical properties. Here we report the hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2 nanostructures without the addition of any surfactants. The structural and optical properties of the synthesized samples were characterized by various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis absorption, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman analysis. XRD and Raman spectroscopic studies confirm the formation of hexagonal phase and well ordered stacking of S-Mo-S layers. The increased lattice parameters of MoS2 samples are due to the stress or strain induced bending and folding of the layers. The synthesized MoS2 nanostructures shows a large optical absorption in 300-700 nm region and strong luminescence at 640 nm. In addition, the optical results demonstrates the quantum confinement in layered d-electron material MoS2 that can lead to engineer its various properties for electronic and optoelectronic applications.