Aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) synthesis of nanostructured cauliflower patterning in MWCNT doped tungsten oxide

Abstract We report nanostructured tungsten oxide (WO) cauliflowers for the first time that are fabricated onto silica glass substrate at 400 °C by aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition using tungsten hexacarbonyl and multiwalled CNTs in toluene. The deposited films are characterized by Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared and UV–VIS spectroscopy and four-point probe for microstructural, optical and electrical properties. Surface morphology exhibits the growth of nanocauliflowers followed by the aggregation of spherical nanoparticles with high angle grain boundaries. Structural information reveals the transformation of triclinic to tetragonal phase with preferential switching from (0 2 0) to (0 0 1) plane having signatures of W-O-W symmetric vibration between (700cm -1 and 900 cm −1 , somewhat perturbed by the addition of doping. In additions, films show inconsistent variation in electrical resistivity (15–10 9 ) Ω-cm due to agglomeration of MWCNTs at grain boundaries and appearance of “nanocracks” due to ionic radii mismatch of tungsten and CNTs at higher doping ratios. Black color films present decrease in optical transmittance for range of 300–400 nm attributed to trapping sites and defects generated due to incorporation of multiwalled CNTs. The splitting of Fermi level as a result of incorporation of MWCNTs caused the increase of band gap energy in range of 3.18 eV, useful in tungsten oxide based new material system which can act as the light harvesting material and energy storage simultaneously.