WO3 Nanostructures Synthesized by a Sonochemical Strategy

Abstract

A simple sonochemical synthesis of tungsten trioxide hydrate with various morphologies has been developed by using tungsten hexachloride (WCl6) as precursor and water, ethanol and their mixture as solvent, followed by annealing in a tube furnace. The resulting products were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transition electron microscopy (TEM) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Results show that nanowhiskers emanating from the core of nanoparticles have been obtained with ethanol as solvent, and that nanoplates and nanosheets were formed when water and/or mixed ethanol and water was used as the solvent, respectively. The continuous changing supersaturation of tungsten trioxide may account for the formation of nanowhiskers. The formation of nanoplates or nanosheets may be associated with the selective adsorption of solvent molecules on the WO3 crystals. Due to a combination of the loss of chemical bonded water and crystal growth, the as-synthesized tungsten trioxide hydrate underwent apparent morphological evolution during thermal processing.