Hydrothermal deposition and photoresponsive properties of WO3 thin films on wood surfaces using ethanol as an assistant agent

Published Date
July 2016, Vol.64:336–342, doi:10.1016/j.jtice.2016.04.031

Title 
Hydrothermal deposition and photoresponsive properties of WO₃ thin films on wood surfaces using ethanol as an assistant agent

• Author 

• Bin Hui ^a,b
• Guoliang Li ^a,b
• Jian Li ^a,b,,
• Brian K. Via ^c

• aKey Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, P.R. China
• bMaterial Science and Engineering College, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, P.R. China
• cForest Products Development Center, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn 36849, USA

Received 22 January 2016. Revised 16 March 2016. Accepted 23 April 2016. Available online 10 May 2016.

Highlights

• •
  A novel nanoplate-like tungsten trioxide was grown on a wood substrate.
• •
  The obtained product responded to ultraviolet radiation very intensively.
• •
  The product had the superhydrophobic performance after OTS treatment.

Abstract

A novel nanoplate-like tungsten trioxide was grown on a wood substrate using a facile one-step ethanol-assisted hydrothermal method. The morphology, chemical composition, crystalline structure, optical properties, thermostability, wettability and roughness of the WO₃-treated woods were investigated. The results showed that the uniform WO₃ nano-plates exhibited an edge length of 1553 nm and a thickness of 102 nm. These structures were observed to be highly crystallized with hexagonal structures. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectrum (RS) analysis demonstrated that the pure WO_3, without other impurities, could be grown on a wood substrate. The as-obtained product appeared a remarkable blue shift than the pristine wood by UV–vis analysis and had an obvious color response to UV light irradiation at 365 nm. The thermogravimetry (TG) analysis showed that the maximum degradation rate of the WO₃-treated wood exhibited slower degradation rates when compared to the native wood control. Through the octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) treatment, the as-fabricated product exhibited a water contact angle (WCA) of 152°, indicative of its superhydrophobic property, which was ascribed to the low surface energy of OTS and the large surface roughness of the product.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

• WO₃
• Thin films
• Wood surfaces
• Superhydrophobic property
• Hydrothermal deposition
• Photoresponsive property

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• *
  Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, P.R. China. Tel.: +86 45182192399; fax: +86 45182192399.

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