Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of 2D-MoS2 Nanostructures at Varying Sonication Times and Their Subsequent Analysis

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been a topic of research for decades now, owing to the significant change in their overall properties when brought down to the nanoscale. Among these, 2D-MoS2 has been of special interest and been studied thoroughly over the years. 2D-MoS2 is a direct bandgap semiconductor with tunable properties. However, effectively producing high-quality MoS2 nanomaterials on a large scale remains a challenge. This study employs liquid-phase exfoliation in an attempt to obtain pristine 2D-MoS2 structures efficiently. The nanomaterials were synthesized from their bulk form in a mixture of acetone and isopropanol, which are solvents with high solubility and low boiling points. The prepared mixture of MoS2 and the solvents was then ultrasonicated for different periods of time in a bath sonicator. Further, the samples were subjected to UV irradiation at short wavelength. They were then centrifuged for a specific time interval. Finally, the exfoliated samples were characterized using FE-SEM, XRD, and Raman for further analysis.