Synthesis of Few Layer Amorphous 1T/2H MoS2 by a One-Step Ethanol/Water Solvothermal Method and Its Hydrodesulfurization Performance

Few layer (< 5 layers) MoS 2 mixed with a 1T phase has the characteristics of a large specific surface area and an improved active site distribution. Therefore, it has been increasingly study for the catalytic hydrodesulfurization of polycyclic compounds. In this paper, few-layer MoS 2 with a high proportion of the 1T phase is synthesized by a one-step solvothermal method using a green non-toxic ethanol/water solvent. Results show that few-layer MoS 2 (3–5 layers) with a 1T phase up to 48% can be synthesized in a 50% ethanol solvent. This MoS 2 is used to catalyse the hydrodesulfurization reaction of dibenzothiophene, and the target product conversion rate reaches 84.2%. Among them, biphenyl accounts for 70.2%, phenylcyclohexane accounts for 13.9%, and bicyclohexane accounts for 0.4%. According to the Hansen solubility parameter (HSP) distance Ra, the effects of solvents on the structure and morphology of MoS 2 and the conversion of dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization are determined. This work is significant for the synchronous synthetic exfoliation of MoS 2 with a controllable number of layers, a higher ratio of the 1T phase and good catalytic HDS of polycyclic compounds. Graphic Abstract Few layers and high proportion of 1T phase MoS 2 by solvothermal synthesis for catalytic hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene.