Solvothermally synthesized highly porous W18O49 nanowires for UV, humidity and pH detection

Abstract

Abstract Highly porous nanostructures can be applied in multifunctional sensing devices and energy storage devices. However, an ultrathin nano-porous one dimensional nanowire is rarely reported until now. Herein, an improved solvothermal strategy is adopted to yield ultrathin W18O49 nanowires composed of nano-pores. The resulting W18O49 nanowires exhibited a high specific surface area of 153.2 m2/g, even exceeding the highest value for the tungsten oxide nanowires reported previously. To show the capability of the nano-porous nanowire products, the nanowires were assembled to thin membranes and characterized with three different sensing capabilities, i.e., UV, humidity and pH. Typically achieved response time of the nanowire membrane devices for UV and humidity are 0.2 s and 0.6–1 s, respectively. pH is detected with a high linear characteristic in the range of 3–6. With their one dimensional geometry, nano-porous structure and high sensitivity, the W18O49 nanowires hold tremendous prospect for multifunctional sensing platform.