Rapid synthesis of vertically aligned α-MoO3 nanostructures on substrates

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 10; no. 40; pp. 24119 - 24126
• Main Authors: Noby, Sohaila Z, Ka Kan Wong, Ramadoss, Ananthakumar, Siroky, Stephan, Hagner, Matthias, Boldt, Klaus, Schmidt-Mende, Lukas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 24-06-2020; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Alignment; Chemistry; Display devices; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Electrode materials; Lithium-ion batteries; Memory devices; Molybdenum oxides; Molybdenum trioxide; Nanostructure; Photovoltaic cells; Precursors; Rechargeable batteries; Silicon dioxide; Silicon substrates; Synthesis
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ra01281e

We report a new procedure for large scale, reproducible and fast synthesis of polycrystalline, dense, vertically aligned α-MoO3 nanostructures on conducting (FTO) and non-conducting substrates (Si/SiO2) by using a simple, low-cost hydrothermal technique. The synthesis method consists of two steps, firstly formation of a thermally evaporated Cr/MoO3 seed layer, and secondly growth of the nanostructures in a highly acidic precursor solution. In this report, we document a growth process of vertically aligned α-MoO3 nanostructures with varying growth parameters, such as pH and precursor concentration influencing the resulting structure. Vertically aligned MoO3 nanostructures are valuable for different applications such as electrode material for organic and dye-sensitized solar cells, as a photocatalyst, and in Li-ion batteries, display devices and memory devices due to their high surface area.