Defect-rich 2D reticulated MoS2 monolayers: Facile hydrothermal preparation and marvellous photoelectric properties

To add defects in MoS2 monolayer will activate the inert basal plane and deliver active sites, thus to improve its electronic and photoelectric properties. By using surfactant ethyl xanthate (C2H50C(=S)SNa) as sulfur source, the defect-rich MoS2 monolayer with two-dimensional reticulated structure was facilely prepared via a conventional hydrothermal approach. XRD, Raman spectra and FESEM/EDS recommended that the as-prepared MoS2 was a rich-Mo and deficient-S material with an amorphous structure. HRTEM inferred that the MoS2 might be mainly composed by monolayer extending through (100) plane. AFM clearly displayed that the MoS2 nanosheet existed as a defect-rich 2D reticulated monolayer with a thickness of similar to 0.62 nm. XPS further verified that there were rich Mo and S vacancies. The defect-rich 2D reticulated MoS2 possessed an excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity with 58.4 mV/dec Tafel slope, 235 mV hydrogen evolution potential, 4.99 Omega charge transfer resistance and 19.63 mF/cm(2) double-layer capacitance. And it realized the admirable photoelectric conversion by generating efficiently-separated photoelectrons and holes. The degradation quantity of hexyl xanthate photo-catalyzed by 1 g MoS2 reached similar to 3400 mg under visible light exposure of 10 h. (C) 2019 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.