Facile and low cost oxidative conversion of MoS2 in α-MoO3: Synthesis, characterization and application

Abstract This study describes a facile low cost route to synthesize the α-MoO 3 through a conversion of the precursor MoS 2 in oxidant media. The structure and morphology of the α-MoO 3 were studied by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that α-MoO 3 was obtained with reduced size, high purity, strongly-preferred orientation and structural defects, which ensures versatility and multifunctionality to this sample. For the purpose of applications, α-MoO 3 was successfully employed in inverted organic solar cells devices as a possible alternative to the PEDOT:PSS in the hole transportation layer.