Controlled exfoliation of molybdenum disulfide for developing thin film humidity sensor

Abstract

We report a facile, size-controllable exfoliation process using an ultrasound-assisted liquid method to fabricate few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets. The morphology, structure and size distribution of the nanosheets processed with different ultrasonic powers were examined by atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. It was revealed that the size of nanosheets reduces and final yield increases with elevating ultrasonic power. Bulk and exfoliated MoS2 based thin film sensors are fabricated by a simple drop casting method on alumina substrates. Our sensors exhibit excellent sensitivity with very quick response and recovery speed to humidity gas. Comparative studies are carried out to draw up the size or ultrasonic power dependent sensing behavior. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.