Vertically aligned MoO₃ nanorods

Kaushalendra K Singh, Vivek Ramakrishnan, Ramya Prabhu B and Neena S John,
CrystEngComm 2017, 19, 6568

Molybdenum trioxide nanomaterials due to its layered structure and 3 eV band gap have been explored for battery and photovoltaic applications in literature. In most cases, they are prepared under hydrothermal conditions requiring longer hours of synthesis and the product obtained contains randomly oriented MoO₃ crystallites. We have achieved the synthesis of vertically aligned hexagonal and alpha- MoO₃ nanorods (NRs) via microwave irradiation as fast as in 90 seconds assisted by seeding. The dimensions and density of the NRs can be tuned by appropriately varying the synthesis time, choice of substrate and precursor concentration. This method provides a way for fast synthesis of h-MoO₃ nanorods, which can be converted to the α-MoO₃ nanorods upon heating, retaining the vertical alignment. This method has implications towards large area synthesis of MoO₃ nanorod arrays.