Abstract
The present work demonstrates the self-organized formation of anodic molybdenum oxide nanotube arrays. The amorphous tubes can be crystallized to MoO2 or MoO3 and be converted fully or partially into molybdenum sulfide. Vertically aligned MoOx/MoS2 nanotubes can be formed when, under optimized conditions, defined MoS2 sheets form in a layer by layer arrangement that provide a high density of reactive stacking misalignments (defects). These core-shell nanotube arrays consist of a conductive suboxide core and a functional high defect density MoS2 coating. Such structures are highly promising for applications in electrocatalysis (hydrogen evolution) or ion insertion devices.