Thermally-induced microstructural evolution in nanoparticle-based CuO, WO3 and CuO–WO3 thin films for hydrogen gas sensing

This study systematically investigates the microstructural evolution of nanoparticle-based CuO, WO${}_3$, and composite ‘CuO–WO${}_3$’ thin films induced by their post-deposition annealing. The films were reactively deposited using a magnetron-based gas aggregation technique, with the composite films consisting of alternating monolayers of CuO and WO${}_3$ nanoparticles. After deposition, the films were annealed in synthetic air at temperatures ranging from 200 to 400 $°C$ and characterized using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Annealing of the CuO films led to the most pronounced changes associated with a gradual enhancement of crystallinity accompanied by significant particle growth with increasing annealing temperature, while the WO${}_3$ and CuO–WO${}_3$ films were more thermally stable to crystallization and particle growth. Notably, at 400 $°C$, the CuO–WO${}_3$ films crystallized into a novel $\gamma$-CuWO${}_4$ phase. The annealed films were further evaluated for their gas-sensing performance upon H${}_2$ exposure and the obtained results were analyzed in relation to film properties and the microstructural evolution induced by annealing.