Surfactant-Assisted Synthesis of Highly Dispersed Molybdenum Sulfide

A simple preparation method of high surface area MoS 2 using reactions in aqueous solution in the presence of an organic surfactant has been reported. Molybdenum sulfide was obtained from the reactions of aqueous (NH 4 ) 2 MoS 4 with N 2 H 4 or NH 2 OH·H 2 SO 4, 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 m 2 /g and disappearance of MoS 2 layers stacking. Single layer, short fringes of MoS 2 were observed by HREM. The solids contained 4−8 wt % of carbon impurity, which probably acts as a textural stabilizer.