Hydrothermal synthesis of MoO₃ nanobelt-graphene composites

A composite of graphene sheets decorated with molybdenum trioxide (MoO ₃) nanobelts has been fabricated via a facile and efficient hydrothermal route in the presence of NaCl. The structure, morphology of these promising composites were investigated by means of field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. FESEM and TEM studies suggest the presence of uniform crystalline MoO₃ nanobelts and graphene sheets in as-prepared hybrid materials. XRD and Raman results confirm the reduction of graphite oxide (GO) sheets to graphene sheets accompanying by the formation of MoO₃ nanobelts. Moreover, thermal properties of GO and MoO₃ nanobelt-graphene composites reveal that thermal stability of the obtained MoO₃ nanobelt-graphene composites is obviously higher than that of GO due to the transformation of GO sheets to highly stable graphene sheets in the hybrids. This work could provide new insights into the fabrication of high quality MoO₃-graphene hybrid nanomaterials and facilitate their potential applications in different fields.