nanoxNJOPFMNano ExpressNANOXNano Express2632-959XIOP Publishingnanoxabfd8c10.1088/2632-959X/abfd8cabfd8cNANOX-100404.R1PaperSingle step synthesis of WO3 nanoparticles by wire explosion process and its photocatalytic behaviour0000-0001-7840-9904RanjanPrem1prem.ranjan@manchester.ac.ukprem.ranjan@manchester.ac.ukSuematsuH.2SarathiR.3 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom Extreme Energy-Density Research Institute, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600 036 India 16202111052021110520212202001421122020070420213004202114042021© 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd2021 Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Tungsten (W) wires are exploded in oxygen ambience to get tungsten oxide (WO3) nanoparticles (NPs). Energy stored in the capacitors (EC) is used to overcome the sublimation energy of wire. Energy ratio (K, ratio of EC and sublimation energy) and oxygen pressure (P) are two control parameters for the particle phase and morphology in the wire explosion process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the partial oxidation of W for low values of K. For K = 2, oxidation increases with increase in P. For K = 10, complete oxidation was achieved irrespective of P. Particles are spherical in shape as observed from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) micrographs. Particle size follows a log-normal distribution with a least mean size of 24.1 nm. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) was used to measure the absorbance of NPs (complete WO3 with least mean size) for band gap measurement. The band gap was found to be 2.92 eV (visible region). NPs are used as photocatalyst to degrade aqueous solution of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. 500 mg l−1 of WO3 NPs were optimum to degrade 10 mg l−1 MB in 120 min.

Nanoparticleswire explosiontungsten oxidemethylene bluephotodegradationccc2632-959X/21/020014+10$33.00crossmarkyes