MoS2, a New Perspective Beyond Graphene

Owing to the fascinating structural, optical, electrical, chemical properties, graphene has created new paradigm in the field of nanoscience and the common crystalline structures that can be exfoliated include the layered van der Waals (vdW) solids such as boron nitride, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), black phosphorus, and the layered ionic solids. Here, we bring forth the state-of-art-of materials dominated by their two-dimensional (2D) geometry beyond graphene. Being one of the most well-studied families of vdW layered materials, molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) belonging to TMDC family has gained considerable research interest. The present work is focused on attempts to optimize and characterize this material with unique properties for a host of applications. The work resolves the hydrothermal growth of hexagonal MoS2 nanoflakes with attracting optical and magnetic properties providing strong evidence for the spin orbit split valence bands of these nanostructures. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity, excitation wavelength dependent down-conversion and up-conversion photoluminescence, growth of structural polymorphs using simple hydrothermal method, and the efficient anticancer properties of MoS2 nanostructures providing greater insight into energy and biomedical applications are also discussed. The improved catalytic activity of MoS2-based nanostructures reveals the increasing number of accessible active sites, formation of large surface area and is greatly beneficial for accomplishing a clean, environmental-friendly, inexpensive hydrogen mission for energy storage and conversion applications. The synergistic effect of the MoS2 nanocomposites was able to impede angiogenesis, tumor growth, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition, elucidating the anticancer efficacy. Understanding and exploiting such unique properties of these 2D materials paves new horizons toward novel technological advances in electronic and medical field.