Raman study of thermochromic phase transition in tungsten trioxide nanowires

Abstract

Tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanowires were synthesized by thermal evaporation of tungsten powder in two steps: tungsten suboxide (WO3−x) nanowires were synthesized, and then oxidized in O2 ambient and transformed into WO3 nanowires. Raman spectroscopy was applied to study the thermochromic phase transition of one-dimensional WO3 nanowires. From the temperature dependence of the characteristic mode at 33cm−1 in WO3, the phase transition temperature was determined. It was found that the phase transition of WO3 nanowires was reversible and the phase transition temperatures were even lower than that of WO3 nanopowder.