Abstract

A simple but effective hydrothermal intercalation and exfoliation route is developed to prepare ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets in high yield. The morphologies and microstructures of as prepared products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It is found that zerovalent lithium is readily intercalated between the layers of MoS₂ using ethylene glycol as both reductant and solvent in hydrothermal process. Subsequently ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets with good quality are obtained by the removing of lithium via the exfoliating process in water. The obtained ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets exhibit preferable photoelectrochemical and photoresponse activity under the illumination of simulated sunlight compared to bulk MoS₂. Our results indicate that ultrathin MoS₂ nanosheets have promising applications in photo-electrochemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, sensors and optoelectronic nanodevices.

© 2013 Optical Society of America