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 6 2023
Accepted
01 3 2024
First published
07 3 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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