Synthesis and characterization of flower-like MoS2 microspheres by a facile hydrothermal route

Abstract Flower-like MoS 2 microspheres with high purity were successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route by adding sodium silicate as an additive. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD patterns showed that the MoS 2 microspheres had good crystallinity with well-stacked layered structure. TEM and SEM images showed that the MoS 2 microspheres had uniform sizes with mean diameter about 480 nm and were constructed with MoS 2 sheets with thickness of several nanometers. It was found that the possible precursor H 4 SiMo 12 O 40 obtained by sodium silicate reacting with sodium molybdate played a crucial role in the formation of the flower-like MoS 2 microspheres in our experiment. A possible formation mechanism of MoS 2 microspheres was preliminarily presented.