A novel synthesis of α-MoO3 nanobelts and the characterization

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the reaction of ethylene glycol with ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate that the reaction product had the structural characteristics of α-MoO 3 (molybdenum trioxide) nanobelts. This work provided a novel and effective method for the fabrication of high-quality α-MoO 3 nanobelts. The initial reaction was very simple, only requiring reaction at reaction time of 40 min at 120 °C to form MoO 3 ·H 2 O, which was then converted to α-MoO 3 by sintering at 300 °C for 1 h. The α-MoO 3 nanobelts were formed at a sintering temperature of 700 °C for 3 h. The structure and morphology of the α-MoO 3 nanobelts were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The α-MoO 3 nanobelts that were obtained after sintering at 700 °C for 3 h were 99 nm thick, 500 μm length and had an average width of 10 μm. The (0 2 0), (0 4 0), (0 6 0), and (0 1 0 0) planes were observed in XRD, implying that the α-MoO 3 nanobelts grew with a strongly-preferred orientation.