Tungsten oxide nanorods synthesized by a modified plasma arc gas condensation technique

In the present study, tungsten oxide nanorods were prepared by a plasma arc gas condensation technique where a gas nozzle was introduced to provide blowing gas. With the aid of the blowing gases, tungsten oxide nanorods can be prepared under various chamber pressures ranging from 26.7 to 101.3 kPa. The diameter and production rate of the nanorods are proportional increase to chamber pressure. For the chamber pressure from 26.7 to 101.3 kPa, the production rate of the nanorods is significantly increased from 0.383 to 0.729 g / h. In addition, the mean grain size only changes from 13.2 to 28.4 nm. The tansimission electron microscope (TEM) images reveal that tungsten oxide nanorod is the single crystalline structure with the lattice spacing of 0.38 nm and the growth of crystal plane is along [010]. The vapor-solid model is preferred to explain the growth mechanism.