Cobalt-doped disulfide nanotubes prepared by exfoliation–intercalation–hydrothermal adulteration

Cobalt-doped disulfide nanotubes were fabricated by a technique of exfoliation–intercalation–hydrothermal adulteration. WS2 and MoS2 powder was used as primary materials and was exfoliated into single layer by n-butyllithium. Then Co2+ cations entered into MoS2 and WS2 matrix through a hydrothermal process with CoCl2 aqueous solution. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), respectively. XRD results indicate that multimetal disulfide can be prepared by this approach. TEM images show that the morphology of the products is bamboo-like nanotube with open-end, tip-end and joint. HRTEM images show that the tip-end, joint and wall of bamboo-like nanotubes are of inorganic fullerene-like (IF-like) nanostructures. EDX results show that the components of bamboo-like nanotubes are Co, Mo, W and S. A possible formation mechanism of bamboo-like nanotubes was suggested.