Investigation of Radiation Effects on Structural, Morphological, and Compositional Properties of WO3 Nanostructures for Water Splitting Applications

Gamma radiation can cause structural defects in metal oxide thin films, affecting their conversion efficiency. This study focuses on synthesizing and characterizing Tungsten oxide (WO3) films for photo-electrochemical (PEC) water-splitting applications. The pristine WO3 film was irradiated with a Co-60 gamma source to improve its photocatalytic activity and was named G-WO3. The resulting G-WO3 thin films showed a decrease in the optical direct band gap and showed higher photocurrent density and lower charge transfer resistance for PEC applications. The carrier charge density (Nd) values were found to be increased after γ-radiation. The synthesized G-WO3 thin films possess good stability and reusability for photo-electrochemical water-splitting applications.