Morphological, structural and field emission characterization of hydrothermally synthesized MoS2-RGO nanocomposite

A few layered MoS 2 -RGO nanocomposite has been synthesized employing a facile hydrothermal synthesis route. The morphological and structural analysis performed using SEM, TEM, HRTEM and Raman spectroscopy clearly reveal formation of vertically aligned a few layer thick MoS 2 sheets on RGO surface. Attempts have been made to reveal the influence of graphite oxide (GO) percentage on morphology of the nanocomposite. Furthermore, field emission (FE) investigations of as-synthesied MoS 2 -RGO nanocomposite are observed to be superior to the pristine MoS 2 emitter. The values of turn-on field, defined at emission current density of 10 μ A cm −2 , are found to be 2.6 and 4.7 V μ m −1 for the MoS 2 -RGO (5%) nanocomposite and pristine MoS 2 emitters, respectively. The value of threshold field, defined at emission current density of 100 μ A cm −2 , is found to be 3.1 V μ m −1 for MoS 2 -RGO nanocomposite. The emission current stability at the pre-set value of 1 μ A over 3 h duration is found to be fairly good, characterized by current fluctuation within ±18% of the average value. The enhanced FE behavior for MoS 2 -RGO nanocomposite is attributed to a high enhancement factor ( β ) of 4128 and modulation of the electronic properties. The facile approach adopted herein can be extended to enhance various functionalities of other nanocomposites.