Premium
Solution Processing of Topochemically Converted Layered WO 3 for Multifunctional Applications
Author(s) -
Sahoo Priyabrata,
Gupta Bikesh,
Chandra Sahoo Ramesh,
Vankayala Kiran,
Ramakrishna Matte H. S. S.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.202100751
Subject(s) - materials science , chemical engineering , exfoliation joint , solvent , thin film , nanomaterials , tungsten disulfide , chalcogenide , electrochemistry , molybdenum disulfide , supercapacitor , nanotechnology , aqueous solution , solubility , graphene , organic chemistry , composite material , optoelectronics , electrode , chemistry , engineering
Solution processing of nanomaterials is a promising technique for use in various applications owing to its simplicity and scalability. However, the studies on liquid‐phase exfoliation (LPE) of tungsten oxide (WO 3 ) are limited, unlike others, by a lack of commercial availability of bulk WO 3 with layered structures. Herein, a one‐step topochemical synthesis approach to obtain bulk layered WO 3 from commercially available layered tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) by optimizing various parameters like reaction time and temperature is reported. Detailed microscopic and spectroscopic techniques confirmed the conversion process. Further, LPE was carried out on topochemically converted bulk layered WO 3 in 22 different solvents; among the solvents studied, the propan‐2‐ol/water (1 : 1) co‐solvent system appeared to be the best. This indicates that the possible values of surface tension and Hansen solubility parameters for bulk WO 3 could be close to that of the co‐solvent system. The obtained WO 3 dispersions in a low‐boiling‐point solvent enable thin films of various thickness to be fabricated by using spray coating. The obtained thin films were used as active materials in supercapacitors without any conductive additives/binders and exhibited an areal capacitance of 31.7 mF cm −2 at 5 mV s −1 . Photo‐electrochemical measurements revealed that these thin films can also be used as photoanodes for photo‐electrochemical water oxidation.