High density decoration of noble metal nanoparticles on polydopamine-functionalized molybdenum disulphide.

Here, we report a highly stable colloidal suspension of nanoparticles (i.e., Pt and Au)-deposited MoS2 sheets, in which polydopamine (PD) serves as surface functional groups. The adoption of polydopamine coating onto the MoS2 surface enables homogeneous deposition of nanoparticles in an aqueous solution. As-synthesized nanohybrids are thoroughly characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement. These intensive investigations reveal that noble metal nanocrystals are uniformly distributed on the surface of ultrathin MoS2 sheets (∼4 layers). Moreover, as-prepared Au/PD/MoS2 nanohybrids can be applied as a heterogeneous catalyst for reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol, and they exhibit an excellent catalytic activity.