Surfactant-Assisted Synthesis of Highly Dispersed Molybdenum Sulfide

Abstract

A simple preparation method of high surface area MoS2 using reactions in aqueous solution in the presence of an organic surfactant has been reported. Molybdenum sulfide was obtained from the reactions of aqueous (NH4)2MoS4 with N2H4 or NH2OH·H2SO4, followed by thermal treatment under nitrogen flow. The solids were characterized by X-ray diffraction, chemical analysis, surface and porosity measurements, photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM). Addition of the cetyltrimetylammonium chloride surfactant to the reaction mixtures led to the increase of specific surface area up to 210 m2/g and disappearance of MoS2 layers stacking. Single layer, short fringes of MoS2 were observed by HREM. The solids contained 4−8 wt % of carbon impurity, which probably acts as a textural stabilizer.