Metal-seed planting fabrication of W–W18O49 core shell nanoflowers for gas sensors

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 7; no. 47; pp. 29844 - 29853
• Main Authors: Luo, Jianyi, Li, Yudong, Mo, Xiwei, Xu, Youxin, Zeng, Qingguang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 01.01.2017
• Subjects: air; ambient temperature; annealing; Gas sensors; hydrogen; Metal oxides; nanoflowers; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nanowires; Planting; Platinum; Recording; Seeds; Sensors; Substrates; Tungsten; tungsten oxide; Tungsten oxides
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c7ra03006a

In this study, a new kind of metal oxide nanoflower has been controllably synthesized on pre-designed regions of a substrate by a metal-seed planting method, in which the nanoflowers only appear where the metal seeds are planted. The material characterization technologies have proved that such nanoflowers are composed of a nanowire shell and a nanoparticle core, and their structures can be assigned to monoclinic W18O49 and cubic W phases, respectively. The growth mechanism of the W–W18O49 core shell nanoflowers has also been investigated by recording the growth process from the metal-seed W particles to the nanoflowers in the metal planting method. Furthermore, after annealing in air, the W–W18O49 nanoflowers were completely oxidized into WO3 nanoflowers, the hydrogen gas sensor based on a Pt coated WO3 (Pt–WO3) nanoflower film was fabricated, and the gas sensing test showed that it is a potential material to resolve the unstable sensing performance of normal metal oxide sensors at room temperature.