Synthesis of tungsten oxide (WO₃) nanorods using carbon nanotubes as templates by hot filament chemical vapor deposition

Synthesis of tungsten oxide (WO₃) nanorods using CNTs as templates under typical diamond growing conditions in a hot-filament chemical vapor deposition system is described. Tungsten oxide nanorods were grown on two types of CNT substrates, a Si [100] wafer with dispersed multiwalled CNT and a fresh-grown multiwalled CNT film. The templated growth resulted in an order of magnitude increase in surface area covered by the tungsten oxide compared to a planar Si [100] surface, which when combined with the flexibility of growing CNTs in various forms like pillars and sheets [K. Hata, D. N. Futaba, K. Mizuno, T. Namai, M. Yumura, S. Iijima, Science 306 (2004) 1362-1364.], can be effectively utilized in field emission, gas sensing and catalytic applications.