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MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles prepared through liquid-phase ablation and light exfoliation of femtosecond laser for chemical sensing

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Abstract

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)-based nanostructures are highly desirable for applications such as chemical and biological sensing, photo/electrochemical catalysis, and energy storage due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In this work, MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles were first prepared through the liquid-phase processing of bulk MoS2 by a femtosecond laser. The core of prepared nanoparticles was incompletely and weakly crystalline MoS2; the shell of prepared nanoparticles was highly crystalline MoS2, which wrapped around the core layer by layer. The femtosecond laser simultaneously achieved liquid-phase ablation and light exfoliation. The formation mechanism of the core-shell nanoparticles is to prepare the nanonuclei first by laser liquid-phase ablation and then the nanosheets by light exfoliation; the nanosheets will wrap the nanonuclei layer by layer through van der Waals forces to form core-shell nanoparticles. The MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles, because of Mo−S bond breakage and recombination, have high chemical activity for chemical catalysis. Afterward, the nanoparticles were used as a reducing agent to directly prepare three-dimensional (3D) Au-MoS2 micro/nanostructures, which were applied as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates to explore chemical sensing activity. The ultrahigh enhancement factor (1.06×1011), ultralow detection limit (10−13 M), and good SERS adaptability demonstrate highly sensitive SERS activity, great ability of ultralow concentration detection, and ability to detect diverse analytes, respectively. This work reveals the tremendous potential of 3D Au-MoS2 composite structures as excellent SERS substrates for chemical and biological sensing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hubei Key Laboratory of Optical Information and Pattern Recognition, School of Optical Information and Energy Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430073, China

    Pei Zuo, LiFei Hu, ZhiCong He & Fang Li

  2. Laser Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Lan Jiang, Xin Li, MengYao Tian, YongJiu Yuan, WeiNa Han & Le Ma

  3. Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing Innovation Center, Chongqing, 401120, China

    Lan Jiang

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  1. Pei Zuo
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  2. Lan Jiang
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  3. Xin Li
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  10. Fang Li
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Correspondence to Fang Li.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52105427, U2037205, 52005041, 51575053, and 51775047), Research Foundation from Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 6141A02033123), Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (Grant No. KM201910005003), Knowledge Innovation Program of Wuhan-Basic Research (Grant No. 2022010801010349), and Scientific Research Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. B2022055).

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MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles prepared through liquid-phase ablation and light exfoliation of femtosecond laser for chemical sensing

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Zuo, P., Jiang, L., Li, X. et al. MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles prepared through liquid-phase ablation and light exfoliation of femtosecond laser for chemical sensing. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 66, 853–862 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2270-9

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