The Effect of Nickel on MoS2 Growth Revealed with in Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

Neha Kondekar, Matthew G. Boebinger, Mengkun Tian, Mohammad Hamza Kirmani, Matthew T. McDowell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

MoS2 has important applications in (electro)catalysis and as a semiconductor for electronic devices. Other chemical species are commonly added to MoS2 to increase catalytic activity or to alter electronic properties through substitutional or adsorption-based doping. While groundbreaking work has been devoted to determining the atomic-scale structure of MoS2 and other layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), there is a lack of understanding of the dynamic processes that govern the evolution of these materials during synthesis. Here, in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) heating, in combination with larger length scale ex situ experiments, is used to investigate the effects of added Ni on the growth of MoS2 during the thermolysis of the solid-state (NH4)2MoS4 precursor. Low concentrations of Ni are observed to cause significant differences in the MoS2 crystallization and growth process, leading to an increase in MoS2 crystal size. This is likely a result of the altered mobility of interfaces between crystals during growth. These findings demonstrate the important role of additional elements in controlling the evolution of TMDCs during synthesis, which should be considered when designing these materials for a variety of applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7117-7126
Number of pages10
JournalACS Nano
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 25 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Acknowledgment is made to the donors of The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for support of this research. This work was performed in part at the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. ECCS-1542174). Additional support from the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Materials at Georgia Tech is acknowledged. The authors acknowledge Dr. D. Tavakoli and Dr. W. Henderson for advice and assistance throughout the study.

Keywords

  • MoS
  • catalysis
  • crystallization
  • in situ transmission electron microscopy
  • phase transformations
  • thermolysis

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