![A schematic representation of the re-evaporation of α-MoO3 molecular fragments from the surface of a single monolayer during film growth.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20161225100606im_/https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/emslweb/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/news-images/Monolayer_moly.jpg?itok=m4yolhFF)
Molybdenum trioxide, or α-MoO3, has potential for use in lithium ion batteries and electrochromic devices, such as smart windows. A team of scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, or PNNL, EMSL and the University of Wyoming have developed a reproducible method for growing α-MoO3 sheets down to a monolayer in thickness. They used a thin-film deposition technique, molecular beam epitaxy at EMSL, to synthesize α-MoO3. Ultra-thin α-MoO3 has also demonstrated its potential use in thin-film pseudocapacitors, light-emitting diodes, plasmon resonance generators and biosensors. The team published their results the scientific journal Nanoscale.
Read more from PNNL's Physical Sciences Division.
Reference: Du Y, G Li, EW Peterson, J Zhou, X Zhang, R Mu, Z Dohnalek, ME Bowden, I Lyubinetsky, and SA Chambers. 2016. "Iso-oriented Monolayer α-MoO3(010) Films Epitaxially Grown on SrTiO3(001)." Nanoscale 8:3119-3124. DOI: 10.1039/C5NR07745A.