Monitoring the formation of inorganic fullerene-like MoS2 nanostructures by laser ablation in liquid environments

Laser ablation of solid targets in liquid media is emerging as a simple, clean and reproducible way to generate a large number of intriguing nanometric structures with peculiar properties. In this work we present some results on the formation of MoS2 fullerene-like nanoparticles (10–15 nm diameter) obtained by the ablation of crystalline targets in water. Such a top–down approach can be considered greener than standard sulphidization reactions and represents an intriguing single step procedure. The generation of the MoS2 nanostructures is in competition with that of oxide clusters and strongly depends on the oxidative environment created by the plasma plume. The size, shape and crystalline phase of the obtained nanoparticles are studied by microscopy while X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy is used to investigate the chemical state of produced nanostructures and to propose mechanisms for their growth.