Amorphous molybdenum oxide nanorods for electrochromic applications

Densely packed and randomly oriented amorphous MoO
3
(a-MoO
3
) nanorods are successfully fabricated without any heat treatment using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The influence of the RF power (viz. 150, 200 and 300 W) on the formation of the MoO
3
nanorods is systematically investigated. The optimum RF power for the formation of fine amorphous MoO
3
nanorods is 200 W. The amorphous nature of the films is ascertained by XRD and micro-Raman analysis. The amorphous nature and the shift in the micro-Raman bands from polycrystalline MoO
3
designate the candidature of a-MoO
3
nanorods for electrochromic, photochromic and memory device applications. The films exhibit photoluminescence emission bands in the UV and visible region. The nanorods exhibit better PL efficiency and electrical conductivity.