Synthesis and controllable growth of three-dimensional WS₂ with different morphologies

We report a successful fabrication of tungsten disulfide micro-nanostructures with different morphologies including sphere-like, band-like, and flower-like ones via a simple yet facile hydrothermal process by using the cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant. The structural features of the as-prepared WS₂ are characterized systematically by the X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. We find that the CTAB surfactant plays a critical role in producing three-dimensional WS₂ structures with different morpholoigies. We also propose growth mechanisms for the three-dimensional WS₂ micro-nanostructures with different morphologies. Such simple method is applicable to other metal chalcogenides materials with various morphologies.