Understanding Surfactant Stabilization of MoS2 Nanosheets in Aqueous Dispersions from Zeta Potential Measurements and Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Gupta, Amit and Vasudevan, Sukumaran (2018) Understanding Surfactant Stabilization of MoS2 Nanosheets in Aqueous Dispersions from Zeta Potential Measurements and Molecular Dynamics Simulations. In: JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, 122 (33). pp. 19243-19250.

PDF Jou_Phy_Che-C_123-33_19243_2018.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (8MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

The sonication-assisted exfoliation of MoS2 in aqueous media in the presence of ionic surfactants to give stable dispersions is an attractive procedure for obtaining single or few-layered nanosheets, as it is easily scalable and does not involve toxic or high boiling solvents. Here, we have investigated the origin of the stability of aqueous dispersions of MoS2 nanosheets obtained by sonication in the presence of the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) by zeta potential measurements at different ionic strengths and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Our measurements show that the dispersions are stabilized by electrostatic repulsive interactions between the delaminated MoS2 nanosheets, which acquire a positive charge because of the adsorption of the cationic surfactant. MD simulations were performed to understand the interaction between MoS2 nanosheets and the CTAB surfactant chains in the dispersion and the structure and arrangement of the adsorbed surfactant chains. Our simulations are able to reproduce the experimentally measured variation of the zeta potential with ionic strength. In addition, the relative contribution and role of different intermolecular interactions between various components of the dispersion was estimated by simulating the potential of mean force (PMF) between two surfactant-adsorbed MoS2 sheets. On the basis of experiment and simulations, we are able to establish that the stability of aqueous dispersions of MoS2 in the presence of an ionic surfactant can be understood based on classical models of charged interfaces.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
Publisher:	AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belong to AMER CHEMICAL SOC, 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Inorganic & Physical Chemistry
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2018 15:17
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2018 15:17
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/60657

Actions (login required)

View Item