Oxalic acid induced hydrothermal synthesis of single crystalline tungsten oxide nanorods

Abstract One-dimensional single-crystalline tungsten oxide nanorods have been synthesized by the hydrothermal technique. The controlled morphology of tungsten oxide was obtained by using sodium tungstate and oxalic acid as an organic inducer. The reaction was carried out at 170 °C for 24, 48 and 72 h. The obtained tungsten oxides were investigated by using XRD, SEM and HRTEM techniques. In order to understand the role of organic inducer on the shape, size and phase formation of WO 3 was prepared with and without organic inducer. On heating of sodium tungstate without organic inducer for 72 h at 170 °C in the hydrothermal unit we obtain nanoparticles of monoclinic WO 3 , however, on addition of oxalic acid a single phase hexagonal WO 3 with distinct nanorods was formed. On addition of oxalic acid a systematic emergence of nanorod-like morphology was obtained with incrementing reaction times from 24 h to 48 h. The 72 h reaction generates self-assembled 20–30 nm diameter and 4–5 μm long h-WO 3 bundles of nanorods. The XRD studies show hexagonal structure of tungsten oxide, while SAED reveals its single crystalline nature. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum shows a characteristic blue emission peak at 3 eV (410 nm). Raman spectra provide the evidence of hexagonal structure with stretching vibrations (830 cm −1 ) for 72 h of heating at 170 °C.