Growth of vertical MoS2 nanosheets on carbon materials by chemical vapor deposition: influence of substrates

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets showed remarkable catalytic performances and applications because of the excellent catalytic activity at the edge sites. Meanwhile, vertically aligned nanosheets can remarkably increase the surface area within a specific area, making vertical MoS2 nanosheets an ideal electrochemical material. Recently, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was shown as a reliable method to grow vertical MoS2 nanosheets. Here, the growth of vertical MoS2 nanosheets on various substrates by CVD was reported and the influence of substrates on growth was investigated. Dense vertical MoS2 nanosheets were successfully synthesized on carbon materials, including activated carbon, glassy carbon, carbon paper, graphene and rGO films, but were not observed on GO films, SiO2/Si, glass and ITO. First-principles calculations based on density functional theory suggested that carbon atoms on substrates could facilitate vertical growth of MoS2 nanosheets.