Synthesis of MoS2 Inorganic Fullerene-like Nanoparticles by a Chemical Vapour Deposition Method

MoS2 nanoparticles with fullerene-like structure (IF-MoS2) were successfully obtained at heating temperature higher than 840 degrees C by a chemical vapour deposition method usingMoO(3) and sulfur powders as raw materials. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX and Raman spectrometry, respectively. The reaction temperature has important influences on composition and morphology of the products, and pure IF-MoS2 nanoparticles can be obtained only in the narrow temperature range of 840-870 degrees C. Diffraction peak (002) of IF-MoS2 nanoparticles moves to small angle compared to that of 2H-MoS2, indicating that the adjacent lattice spacing along the c-axis of IF-MoS2 nanoparticles is about 2 % larger than that of layered 2H-MoS2. The peaks at 155 cm(-1), 349.8 cm(-1) and 281.7 cm(-1) in the Raman spectrum of bulk and layered MoS2 are absent, which is attributed to MoS2 layer folding or curling along A-M in Brillouin zone to formfullerene-like polyhedra and nanotubes. In addition, a gradual formation mechanism of IF-MoS2 nanoparticles was discussed in detail.