Wet chemical process of rod-like tungsten nanopowders with iron (II) as reductive agent

Tungsten metal nanoparticles have been prepared by chemical reduction of aqueous sodium tungstate with iron (11) ions as reductive agents to reduce tungsten (VI) to tungsten (0) under a wet chemical process. The effects of all kinds of reaction parameters in the solution on the preparation were studied. The results from XRD and TEM analyses reveal that the as-prepared tungsten metal nanopowders exhibit a rod-like shape in an amorphous structure with a length of 40-80 nm and a width of 20 nm. A small amount of residual FeWO4 involved in the as-prepared samples would give defense to samples from further oxidation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.