Synthesis and electrochemical capacitance of long tungsten oxide nanorod arrays grown vertically on substrate

Highlights: ► Growth of long amorphous tungsten oxide nanorods on a substrate. ► Formation of single-crystalline tungsten oxide nanorods by a heat-treatment. ► High electrochemical pseudocapacitance of 2.8 mF cm−2. ► Excellent cyclability of psuedocapacitance up to 1000 cycles. -- Abstract: Long tungsten oxide nanorods are vertically grown on Al/W/Ti coated silicon substrates using a two-step anodization process. The first anodization of the Al film forms a mesh-like mask of anodic aluminum oxide, and the second anodization of the W film results in the formation of a buffer layer, a bottom nanorod, and a top nanorod of amorphous tungsten oxide. A pore-widening process prior to the second anodization leads to the enhancement of nanorod length above approximately 500 nm. After a heat-treatment, the tungsten oxide nanorods are crystallized to form a single crystalline structure while the buffer layer forms a polycrystalline structure. The crystalline tungsten oxide nanorods show a cyclic voltammogram retaining the quasi-rectangular shape of an electrochemically reversible faradaic redox reaction, i.e., a typical pseudocapacitive behavior. The maximum electrochemical capacitance per apparent surface area reaches approximately 2.8 mF cm−2 at the voltage scan rate of 20 mV s−1, and the excellent cyclability of charge–discharge process is maintained up to 1000 cycles.