Hydrothermal synthesis of variety low dimensional WS2 nanostructures

Abstract We report a successful fabrication of tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) nanostructures with different morphologies including rod-like, sheet-like and fiber-like ones via a simple yet facile hydrothermal process by adding surfactants cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The structural features of the as-prepared WS 2 are characterized systematically by the X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. We find that the surfactants play a critical role in producing low dimensional WS 2 structures with different morphologies. We also propose growth mechanisms for the various WS 2 morphologies. The simple fabrication of WS 2 nanostructures can also be applied for the synthesis of other transition metal sulfides with novel nanostructures.