Growth of MoO3 nanorods on glass substrates by R F magnetron sputtering

Uniformly distributed MoO3 nanorods of length ∼1.2 μm and diameter ∼200 nm have been grown onto glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique. A sputtering-redeposition mechanism and enhanced rearrangement during subsequent annealing has been proposed for the growth of MoO3 nanorods on glass substrates. The surface morphological, structural and optical properties of nanorods are investigated systematically using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The AFM images exhibit the distribution of nanograins and nanorods. The XRD studies reveal the presence of monoclinic Mo8O23 and orthorhombic MoO3 in the films annealed at 573 and 673 K respectively. The optical band gap energy is found to increase with increase in annealing temperature and particle size. The MoO3 nanorods are expected to exhibit enhanced functionality particularly in nanoscale, photochromic and gas sensing applications.