Fabrication of one-dimensional mesoporous tungsten oxide

Mesoporous tungsten oxide nanofibres and tube-like nanofibres are fabricated by the gas-filled assistant sol–gel immersion method with porous anodic alumina membrane confinement. Tube-like nanofibres are obtained at an immersion time of less than 3 min, but nanofibres are obtained at an immersion time of more than 5 min under 50 psi nitrogen gas pressure. The results show that the gas-filled method has a higher efficiency to induce mesoporous materials into membrane channels. One-dimensional (1D) mesoporous tungsten oxide nanowire is characterized as a triclinic crystal with discontinuous lattice morphology at the mesopores. The one-dimensional tungsten oxide with disordered mesopores obtained indicates that the liquid-crystal mechanism should be applied for the formation of the mesoporous structure. The gas-filled immersion method provides a convenient and low-cost route for the fast production of mesoporous tungsten oxide nanofibres and tube-like nanofibres.