Structural, thermal and electrochemical studies of nano tungsten carbides

Abstract

Among all the available carbide materials, carbides of tungsten (WC/W2C) are unique class of materials exhibiting versatile applications in the field of mechanical and electrochemical engineering. Further, it is observed that the materials at nano scale can be used for different electrical, electronics, mechanical, chemical and electrochemical applications, thus widening their demands. These widened applications are due to their different morphological features. The performance of WC especially in electrochemical devices can be enhanced by reducing their size. Due to their smaller sizes, it attains higher surface area, which provides additional active sites for reactants. So the synthesis of tungsten carbide nano powder has become the subject of interests where main focus is to meet the demands of industry. Many recent important technological breakthroughs can be attributed to the ongoing developments in the synthesis of WC nano powder. The synthesis of WC nanoparticles normally includes control of size and shape. Conventionally, the synthesis of WC done at high temperature (> 1400 ºC) involving many intermediate steps. Therefore, there is a need to develop new synthesis routes to obtain the product at relatively lower temperature in single step. The present work deals with the synthesis and characterization of tungsten carbide(s) (WC/W2C) nano powder by thermo-chemical route. Further, the prepared materials have been tested as electrocatalyst in acidic and alcohol media.