Thermal diffusivity of molybdenum oxide nanowire film: A photothermal beam deflection study

The paper reports the preparation of thin film with MoO3 nanowires (NWs) by the doctor blade method and the study of its thermal diffusivity (alpha) by the sensitive photothermal beam deflection (PTD) method. When the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopic and Atomic Force Microscopic analysis unveil its morphology as NW bundles, the X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the structure to be orthorhombic. The NWs formed are of diameter similar to 20 nm and length up to 5 mu m. The standardization of the transverse PTD setup is done by determining the value of alpha of iron, which agrees well with literature reports. The thermal diffusivity of MoO3 NW film is obtained as 0.0036 cm(2)/s, which is 9.48% of its bulk counterpart. The reduction in the thermal diffusivity of NW makes it a suitable candidate for thermoelectric applications.