Light driven growth of silver nanoplatelets on 2D MoS2 nanosheet templates

A novel synthesis approach for the fabrication of silver nanoparticles and platelets using MoS2 nanosheets has been investigated herein, which is based on the direct photo excitation of the semiconductor bandgap in the presence of silver ions. The silver ions were effectively reduced to silver metal and a range of silver-MoS2 heterostructures were synthesised, depending on illumination time. Short light exposure led to the formation of silver nanoparticles on the MoS2 sheets. Longer illumination time led to a templated growth mechanism and the formation of large silver nanoplatelets, fully encapsulating the MoS2 templates. These silver nanoplatelets were found to self-assemble into large micrometre sized silver nanodendrites/nanobranches which were effectively used as a surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy platform.