Synthesis of MoO3 nanobelts by medium energy nitrogen ion implantation

Ion implantation has been revealed as a potential technique to modify the surface of materials. In this work, MoO3 nanobelts were synthesized on MoO3 whisker surfaces by means of ion implantation with 60 keV nitrogen ions at a dose of 1 × 1016 atom/cm2 and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The result showed that the nanostructures of MoO3 occurred over the whisker surfaces and had belt-like shapes. The size of the synthesized MoO3 nanobelts mostly ranged from 20 to 60 nm in width and 300 to 800 nm in length. The nanobelts were found to have an orthorhombic crystal structure with growth preferential in the [001] direction. The growth process of the nanobelts based on the common vapor–solid mechanism is discussed.