Structural and optical characterization of WO3 and WO3/rGO nanocomposites synthesized by a simple chemical method

Diana Elizabeth Ortega Martínez; Ricardo Agustín-Serrano; Felipe Caballero-Briones; F. Chalé-Lara; C. Guarneros-Aguilar

doi:10.47566/2025_syv38_1-250301

Authors

Diana Elizabeth Ortega Martínez Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CICATA Altamira https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4398-5927
Ricardo Agustín-Serrano Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6468-7548
Felipe Caballero-Briones Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Tecnologías y Materiales para Energía, Salud y Medio Ambiente (GESMAT), CICATA Altamira https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4340-1050
F. Chalé-Lara Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CICATA Altamira https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3247-9389
C. Guarneros-Aguilar CONAHCYT-Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CICATA Altamira https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8751-4394

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47566/2025_syv38_1-250301

Keywords:

Reflux, Tungsten oxide, Graphene oxide, Nanocomposites, Crystalline structure

Abstract

The chemical structure and morphology of inorganic metal oxides have attracted increasing interest because of these parameters directly influence their sensing properties. Additionally, the incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) favors an increase in the sensitivity of these composites. Tungsten oxide (WO₃) and tungsten oxide/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites with 3 w% (WO₃/rGO) were prepared via reflux method. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to study the crystalline structure and morphology properties of the prepared WO₃ and WO₃/rGO nanocomposites. The diffraction pattern of WO₃ shows the diffraction peaks of tungsten trioxide hydrate (WO₃(H₂O), tungstite) with orthorhombic structure; however, with the annealing at 500 °C occur a phase transformation to the monoclinic structure. The incorporation of rGO into the WO₃ matrix did not modify its monoclinic chemical structure. The crystallite size of the reduced composites increases as the percentage of rGO increases. Furthermore, the optical properties of WO₃/rGO nanocomposites were characterized by Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The band gap of WO₃/rGO composites varies between 3.32 and 3.35 eV. SEM images of WO₃ show structures of nanoplates with rectangular transversal section.

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