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

Flower-like MoS2 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 MoS2 microspheres had good crystallinity with well-stacked layered structure. TEM and SEM images showed that the MoS2 microspheres had uniform sizes with mean diameter about 480 nm and were constructed with MoS2 sheets with thickness of several nanometers. It was found that the possible precursor H4SiMo12O40 obtained by sodium silicate reacting with sodium molybdate played a crucial role in the formation of the flower-like MoS2 microspheres in our experiment. A possible formation mechanism of MoS2 microspheres was preliminarily presented.