Morphological, structural and field emission characterization of hydrothermally synthesized MoS2-RGO nanocomposite

A few layered MoS2-RGO nanocomposite has been synthesized employing a facile hydrothermal synthesis route. The morphological and structural analysis performed using SEM, TEM, HRTEMand Raman spectroscopy clearly reveal formation of vertically aligned a few layer thick MoS2 sheets on RGOsurface. Attempts have been made to reveal the influence of graphite oxide (GO) percentage on morphology of the nanocomposite. Furthermore, field emission (FE) investigations of as-synthesied MoS2-RGO nanocomposite are observed to be superior to the pristine MoS2 emitter. The values of turn-on field, defined at emission current density of 10 mu A cm(-2), are found to be 2.6 and 4.7 V mu m(-1) for the MoS2-RGO (5%) nanocomposite and pristine MoS2 emitters, respectively. The value of threshold field, defined at emission current density of 100 mu A cm(-2), is found to be 3.1 V mu m(-1) for MoS2-RGO nanocomposite. The emission current stability at the pre-set value of 1 mu A over 3 h duration is found to be fairly good, characterized by current fluctuation within +/- 18% of the average value. The enhanced FE behavior for MoS2-RGO nanocomposite is attributed to a high enhancement factor (beta) of 4128 and modulation of the electronic properties. The facile approach adopted herein can be extended to enhance various functionalities of other nanocomposites.