Abstract

Tungsten trioxide nanoparticles doped amorphous hydrogenated carbon (WO₃/a-C:H) films were successfully fabricated on silicon substrates by electrochemical deposition technique under atmospheric pressure. The as-deposited films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Results showed that nanocrystalline tungsten trioxide particles with a grain size in the range of 8–12 nm were homogeneously embedded in the amorphous carbon matrix, and the sp³-hybridized carbon content in the a-C:H films increased. Compared with pure amorphous carbon film, the hardness and elastic recovery were significantly improved due to the doping of WO₃. At the end, an understandable model was proposed to interpret the growth mechanism of the WO₃/a-C:H composite films.

Graphical abstract