Effects of the Intercalant and the Temperature in Hybrid-MoS2Nanodots Fabrication and Their Photoluminescence Enhancement

In this study, we have proposed a simple method to produce temperature-dependent variable-size of MoS2 nanodots (NDTs) by using MoS2 powder as a pre-cursor and KNa-tartrate as the intercalant. Due to defects in MoS2, the optical properties are strongly modified and show blue luminescence under UV irradiation of MoS2 NDTs. The temperature variable is used to gradually introduce defects in 2D materials to obtain nanodots with different particle sizes. When the synthesis temperature is increased from 120 degrees C to 200 degrees C, the particle size is reduced from similar to 120 nm to similar to 2.5 nm. Next, an enhancement of photoluminescent magnitude and a red shift were observed in photoluminescence spectra from MoS2 NDTs solutions. These results offer a route toward tailoring the optical properties of 2D nanomaterials by controlling the size/temperature/synthesis method.