Synthesis and photochromic properties of WO3 powder induced by oxalic acid

Tungsten trioxide powder with the novel morphology was prepared via the hydrothermal method with oxalic acid as the organic inducer, the structure and shape of which were detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET. Furthermore, photochromic properties of the as-prepared powder samples were tested by an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer combined with a color difference meter. The corresponding results indicated that the induced product was still hexagonal WO₃, made up of regularly spindle particles with 200–300 nm in length and 30–50 nm in width. The ratio of the length and width was from 4 to 10. Moreover, the special morphology improved its absorptive capacity to the excitation light source, resulting in its high photochromic properties. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50702052) and the Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Material