Size-controlled synthesis and gas sensing application of tungsten oxide nanostructures produced by arc discharge

Several different synthetic methods have been developed to fabricate tungsten oxide (WO3) nanostructures, but most of them require exotic reagents or are unsuitable for mass production. In this paper, we present a systematic investigation demonstrating that arc discharge is a fast and inexpensive synthesis method which can be used to produce high quality tungsten oxide nanostructures for NO2 gas sensing measurements. The as-synthesized WO3 nanostructures are characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), finger-print Raman spectroscopy and proton induced x-ray emission (PIXE). The analysis shows that spheroidal-shaped monoclinic WO3 crystal nanostructures were produced with an average diameter of 30 nm (range 10–100 nm) at an arc discharge current of 110 A and 300 Torr oxygen partial pressure. It is found that the morphology is controlled by the arc discharge parameters of current and oxygen partial pressure, e.g. a high arc discharge current combined with a low oxygen partial pressure results in small WO3 nanostructures with improved conductivity. Sensors produced from the WO3 nanostructures show a strong response to NO2 gas at 325 °C. The ability to tune the morphology of the WO3 nanostructures makes this method ideal for the fabrication of gas sensing materials.