Fabrication of blue luminescent MoS2 quantum dots by wet grinding assisted co-solvent sonication

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) belongs to transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) family and has vital position among 2D materials. Here, an efficient strategy for the synthesis of zero-dimensional MoS2 quantum dots (QDs) has been represented. This strategy consists of wet grinding of pristine MoS2 in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) followed by sonication in NMP and 1,2-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB). The efficacy of this approach to synthesize MoS2 QDs has been reported by analyzing the as synthesized MoS2 QDs by different characterization techniques such as high resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. The concentration (yield) of as synthesized MoS2 QDs was found to be 7 mg mL−1. Most of the MoS2 QDs were measured around 2-5 nm in size. The as synthesized MoS2 QDs showed distinct blue luminescence upon UV excitation.