Nanorods assembled hierarchical urchin-like WO^sub 3^ nanostructures: Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, and their gas sensing properties

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 702; p. 644
• Main Authors: Cao, Shixiu, Chen, Hui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier BV 25-04-2017
• Subjects: Assembling; Detection; Ethanol; Gas sensors; Microstructure; Nanorods; Nanostructured materials; Self-assembly; Semiconductors; Sensors; Superstructures; Synthesis; Tungsten oxides
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669

Self-assembly of one-dimensional nanoscale building blocks into functional 3D complex superstructures has stimulated a great deal of interest. In current work, using a simple CTAB-assisted hydrothermal process, we synthesized the 3D urchin-like WO3 nanostructures with an average diameter of 0.8-1 µm. The urchin-like architectures are assembled by numerous 1D nanorods. The cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), as an assembling and structure-directing agent, provides nucleation sites for the assembling of the nanorods, and plays a crucial role in controllable synthesis of urchin-like WO3 nanostructures. Meantime, a possible growth mechanism was proposed in detail. The urchin-like WO3 nanostructures showed excellent gas-sensing performances to ethanol at an optimal temperature as low as 350 °C. Such unique 3D architectures may open up an avenue to further enhance the gas-sensing performances of 3D WO3 nanostructures for future sensor application.