Govender, MalcolmMwakikunga, B.W.Machatine, Augusto Gonçalo JoseKunert, Herbert W.2015-08-262015-08-262014-02Govender, M, Mwakikunga, BW, Machatine, AGJ & Kunert, HW 2014, 'Electrical and optical properties of mixed phase tungsten trioxide films grown by laser pyrolysis', Physica Status Solidi C, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 349-354.1862-6351 (print)1610-1642 (online)10.1002/pssc.201300212http://hdl.handle.net/2263/49595Laser pyrolysis is a synthesis method used to produce thin films and nanomaterials of high quality and purity, by intersecting a laser beam with a chemical precursor. We have chosen laser pyrolysis to synthesize tungsten trioxide starting with tungsten ethoxide precursor. The film had a thickness that varied from 205 nm to 1 μm. Xray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of a mixture of hexagonal and tetragonal phase WO3 in the synthesized film, and it was clear that annealing greatly influenced the phases and types of structures formed. I-V curves of the films showed n-type semiconducting behaviour, but the mixed phase appeared to cause a similar behaviour of dopants in a semiconductor. The refractive index decreased with increasing wavelength and gave values of up to 21 at low wavelengths. The average optical band gap was found to 3.6 eV from UV/Vis spectroscopy. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed a mixture of nano- and microstructures and shapes formed after annealing. One of the grown nanostructures was nanorods, this isolated using FIB for possible applications such as an active sensing medium in gas sensors.en© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlah GmbH & Co.KGaA, Weinheim. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article : Electrical and optical properties of mixed phase tungsten trioxide films grown by laser pyrolysis, Physica Status Solidi. C, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 349-354, 2014. doi : 10.1002/pssc.201300212. which has been published in final form at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.comjournal/10.1002/(ISSN)1610-1642a.Laser pyrolysisTungsten trioxideNanorodsFIB-SEMGas sensorsPostprint Article