Synthesis of Nanostructured Tungsten Oxide Thin Films

Several methods are used to form tungsten oxide films. The methods include sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, in which sub-atmospheric pressure must be maintained. In these methods, large, complex and expensive equipment is needed, and the methods involve significant energy consumption and relatively high operating costs. The films produced by current methods are tungsten oxide films of WO3, without suboxides, and which are colorless or faint yellow, single color films.

A facile and inexpensive method to produce thin films of nanostructured tungsten oxide is described. A nanocrystalline tungstite (WO3·H2O) film is spontaneously formed when a tungsten substrate is immersed in nitric acid at elevated temperatures. The resulting thin film is composed of plate-like tungstite crystals with edges preferentially directed out from the substrate surface. The tungstite can easily be transformed into WO3 by annealing. Patterned WO3·H2O/W structures can be obtained by a combination of lithographic techniques and etching. In this study, the effect of exposure time, acid concentration, and temperature on the microstructure of the films has been investigated. The potential of this inexpensive synthesis method to produce large-area coatings of nanostructured tungsten oxide as well as patterned films makes it interesting for several different applications, such as batteries, gas sensors, and photocatalysts.

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