Leaf-like Tungsten OxideNanoplatelets Induced byLaser Ablation in Liquid and Subsequent Aging.

A facile and chemically clean method, pulsed laser ablationinliquid medium (LAL), was utilized to produce precursor solutions,and leaf-like tungsten oxide (WO3) nanoplatelets were synthesizedafter sequential aging treatment of precursors. In this work, theeffects of aging temperature, aging time, and pH value of precursorsolutions have been investigated. The well-defined leaf-like WO3nanoplatelets can only be achieved by aging the pristineprecursor solutions at room temperature (25 °C) for 48 h. Inparticular, when the pH value of precursor solutions was decreasedlower than 1.0, the obtained products were hierarchical quasi-spherescomposed of several nanoplates. The preparation method reported hereshows a novel synthetic approach to control and adjust the morphologyand crystallite size of the prepared WO3nanomaterials,which has potential applications in gas sensing, electrochromic devices,and photocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]