Issue 13, 2024

Low-temperature open-atmosphere growth of WO3 thin films with tunable and high-performance photoresponse

Abstract

Tungsten oxide (WO3), an n-type semiconductor, has many potential applications, e.g., electrochromic devices, photodetectors, photoelectrochemical cells, photocatalysts, supercapacitors, memristors, electrolyte-gated transistors, etc. Most deposition routes of films require either vacuum processes or post-deposition annealing, which is not suitable for many applications. In this work, WO3 thin films are made from a W[CO]6 precursor using atmospheric pressure-spatial chemical vapor deposition (AP-SCVD), without any post-deposition annealing. Films were grown on Si substrates at 320 °C and were conformal over cm2 areas, with the film-preferred orientations tuned via control of growth rate. Three exemplar photo-responsive functions with strong performance are demonstrated: water oxidation, UV photodetection, and photocatalytic degradation. The strong performance is linked to the highly exothermic reaction which produces crystalline materials at a low deposition temperature as well as control of the film orientation through tuning the film growth rate. Overall, AP-SCVD is shown to have key advantages over other routes for forming WO3 thin films for photo-responsive applications.

Graphical abstract: Low-temperature open-atmosphere growth of WO3 thin films with tunable and high-performance photoresponse

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 iyn 2023
Accepted
01 mar 2024
First published
07 mar 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024,12, 4779-4791

Low-temperature open-atmosphere growth of WO3 thin films with tunable and high-performance photoresponse

Z. Sun, S. Bhattacharjee, M. Xiao, W. Li, M. O. Hill, R. A. Jagt, L. Delumeau, K. P. Musselman, E. Reisner and J. MacManus-Driscoll, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024, 12, 4779 DOI: 10.1039/D3TC02257A

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