Two-dimensional layered materials like MoS2 have shown promise for nanoelectronics and energy storage, both as monolayers and as bulk van der Waals crystals with tunable properties. Here we present a platform to tune the physical and chemical properties of nanoscale MoS2 by electrochemically inserting a foreign species (Li(+) ions) into their interlayer spacing. We discover substantial enhancem...

Two-dimensional layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted great interest owing to their unique properties and a wide array of potential applications. However, due to their inert nature, pristine TMDs are very challenging to functionalize. We demonstrate a general route to functionalize exfoliated 2H-MoS2 with cysteine. Critically, MoS2 was found to be facilitating the oxida...

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)-based materials have been recently identified as promising electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, little work has been done to improve the catalytic performance of MoS2 toward HER in alkaline electrolytes, which is more suitable for water splitting in large-scale applications. Here, it is reported that the hybridization of 0D nickel hydr(oxy...

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), whose monolayer possesses a direct band gap, displays promising applications in optoelectronics, photonics, and lasers. Recent researches have demonstrated that MoS2 has not only a significant broadband saturable absorption performance, but also a higher optical nonlinear response than graphene. However, MoS2 shows much lower optical damage threshold owing to the po...

Highly efficient and stable MoS2 nanocrystals on graphene sheets (MoS2/GR) are synthesized via a hybrid microwave annealing process. Through only 45 second-irradiation using a household microwave oven equipped with a graphite susceptor, crystallization of MoS2 and thermal reduction of graphene oxide into graphene are achieved, indicating that our synthetic method is ultrafast and energy-economi...

Hierarchical MoS2 thin films nanostructured with orthogonally oriented vertically and horizontally aligned layers were designed and excellent passive Q-switching behavior in a fiber laser was demonstrated. A special solvothermal system containing a small amount of water was applied to synthesize such hierarchical MoS2 nanofilms, in which the reaction rate is carefully controlled by the diffusio...

Strain-dependent structural and electronic properties of MoS2 materials are investigated using first principles calculations. The structural and electronic band structures of the MoS2 with relaxed unit cells are optimized and calculated by the dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D2). Calculations within the local density approximation (LDA) and GGA using PAW potentials were also...

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/cadmium sulfide (CdS) heterojunction solar cells were successfully synthesized via chemical bath deposition (CBD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The as-grown CdS film on a fluorine tin oxide (FTO) substrate deposited by CBD is continuous and compact. The MoS2 film deposited by CVD is homogeneous and continuous, with a uniform color and a thickness of approximat...

We investigate the strain-induced electronic and magnetic properties of single-layer (1L) MoS2 with vacancy defects using the density functional theory calculation. When the tensile strain is applied, 1L-MoS2 with vacancy becomes ferromagnetic and metallic. We elucidate that, from the electronic band structure of vacancy-defect-doped 1L-MoS2, the impurity bands inside the gap play a role of see...

Two-dimensional (2D) compounds provide unique building blocks for novel layered devices and hybrid photonic structures. However, large surface-to-volume ratio in thin films enhances the significance of surface interactions and charging effects requiring new understanding. Here we use micro-photoluminescence (PL) and ultrasonic force microscopy to explore the influence of the dielectric environm...