Electrochemical Deposition of Quantized Particle MoS2 Thin Films

Thin films of uniform MoS 2 nanoparticles smaller than 10 nm, were produced by electrochemical deposition on conducting glass from nonaqueous solutions of ( NH 4 ) 2 MoS 4 in ethylene glycol. The as‐deposited films were x‐ray amorphous with a composition determined by electron probe microanalysis close to MoS 2 . Transmission electron microscopy, selected area diffraction, and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) showed that the particles are hexagonal 2 H ‐ MoS 2 having a size distribution ranging from 3 to 10 nm. HREM showed clearly that the nanoparticles had flat facets and that they were deposited with their van der Waals (002) basal planes perpendicular to the substrate surface (type I texture) exhibiting the (100) and (110) edge planes to the surface. Optical studies revealed size quantization effects in their optical absorption spectra.