Hydrothermally grown nano-WO₃ electrochromic film: structural and Raman spectroscopic study

ABSTRACT

Tungsten oxide (WO₃) thin films have practical implications in a variety of technological fields including electrochromic devices thus a good quality film must be deposited using an appropriate method. This drives the research on fabricating uniform, nano-particle sized WO₃ film for application-oriented work. Synthesis of well distributed, porous and uniform nano- WO₃ film using single-step hydrothermal synthesis method has been reported here followed by investigation of its electrochromic properties. Structural and spectroscopic studies have been carried out using SEM, XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The SEM results reveal uniform deposition of WO₃ nanoparticles all over the substrate. Raman and XRD spectroscopy have been further used to investigate its structural composition. Excellent properties possessed by WO₃ film make it standing apart in inorganic materials’ realm and open the door for its varied device-oriented applications especially in the field of electrochromism.

KEYWORDS:

• Tungsten oxide
• functional materials
• thin film
• Raman spectroscopy

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge financial support from Science and Engineering Research Board, Govt. of India (Grant no. CRG/2019/000371). Authors are thankful to IIT Indore for providing SIC facility. One of the authors (DKP.) acknowledges Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for financial assistance (File No. 09/1022(0039)/2017-EMR-I). Authors, A.C. and M.T., acknowledge IIT Indore and DST (file no. DST/INSPIRE/03/2018/000910/IF180398), Govt. of India for providing fellowships. Author C.R. acknowledges DST (DST/INSPIRE/03/2019/002160), and author S.K. acknowledges UGC (Ref. 1304-JUNE-2018-513215), Govt. of India for providing fellowships. Facilities received from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, under FIST scheme (grant number SR/FST/PSI-225/2016) is highly acknowledged. Useful discussion with Dr P.R. Sagdeo (IIT Indore) is also acknowledged. Authors thank Dr. G. Vimala Rosaline (Principal, Government College of Engineering-Salem) for extending SEM facility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India [09/1022(0039)/2017-EMR-I)]; Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology [SR/FST/PSI-225/2016, DST/INSPIRE/03/2018/000910/IF180398, DST/ INSPIRE/03/2019/002160]; Science and Engineering Research Board [CRG/2019/000371]; University Grants Commission [1304-JUNE-2018-513215].