Facile synthesis and characterization of a novel silica-molybdenum disulfide hybrid material

To improve the dispersion of MoS₂ in polymer matrix, a facile synthesis approach was developed in this study through a synergetic effect between two kinds of nanofillers with different dimensionality. The nanohybrids based on two dimensional (2D) MoS₂ and 0D silica nanospheres were fabricated by in situ growth method without any surfactants. Characterizations of the hybrid materials were done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Solid-state ²⁹Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, transmission electron micrographs (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The TEM and SEM results demonstrated that the dispersibility of MoS₂ was greatly improved and the agglomeration was suppressed, with the introduction of silica nanospheres.