Charge conduction and relaxation in MoS2 nanoflakes synthesized by simple solid state reaction

We present the synthesis of crystalline MoS2 nanoflakes through self-exfoliation in a simple solid state reaction at temperature similar to 650 degrees C. X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscope analysis indicate the formation of pure hexagonal phase MoS2 nanoflakes. Impedance and modulus plane plots from 20 Hz to 2MHz show two relaxations associated with bulk and interface phases at temperatures from 180K to 280 K. The conductivity obeys Mott's 2D variable-range hopping phenomenon and density of localized states similar to 3.42 x 10(19) eV(-1) cm(-3) is extracted. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.