Abstract
Laser photolysis of WCl(6) in ethanol and a specific mixture of V(2)O(5) and VCl(3) in ethanol lead to carbon modified vanadium and tungsten oxides with interesting properties. The presence of graphene's aromatic rings (from the vibrational frequency of 1,600 cm(-1)) together with C-C bonding of carbon (from the Raman shift of 1,124 cm(-1)) present unique optical, vibrational, electronic and structural properties of the intended tungsten trioxide and vanadium dioxide materials. The morphology of these samples shows nano-platelets in WO(x) samples and, in VO(x) samples, encapsulated spherical quantum dots in conjunction with fullerenes of VO(x). Conductivity studies revealed that the VO(2)/V(2)O(5) nanostructures are more sensitive to Cl than to the presence of ethanol, whereas the C:WO(3) nano-platelets are more sensitive to ethanol than atomic C.