One-step hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchically structured MoS2 nanorods via reaction intermediates as self-templates for chemoselective hydrogenation

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have unique planar structures and ultrathin thicknesses, but are prone to restacking and agglomerate due to the high surface energy. Building hierarchical structures is one of the effective ways to exploit their inherent properties and unique structural advantages. We unexpectedly found that the introduction of saturated NaCl solution to the hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2 could significantly change its structure, resulting in the hierarchically structured nanosheet-assembled MoS2 nanorods (R-MoS2) with intercalated alkali ions. The formation process and synthesis mechanism of R-MoS2 via NaNH4Mo3O10·H2O reaction intermediate are systematically revealed by morphology and spectroscopy. Benefiting from this interesting hierarchical structure, the catalytic conversion of R-MoS2 for p-chloronitrobenzene hydrogenation is significantly improved. Density functional theory calculation also demonstrates the intercalation of Na in MoS2 can downshift the d-band center of Mo and favors the key final desorption process.