An inorganic route for controlled synthesis of W18O49 nanorods and nanofibers in solution

In this work, we describe a simple inorganic route for synthesis of monodispersed W18O49 nanorods with dimensional control in the quantum confinement regime. The single-crystalline W18O49 nanorods can be prepared into stable colloidal solutions, or assembled into fibrous and/or paper forms by tuning process parameters. The important role of Na2SO4 salt in the synthesis has been demonstrated. This inorganic route should be feasible for large-scale production of low-dimensional nanostructured W18O49.