Synthesis of magnetron sputtered WO₃ nanoparticles-degradation of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide and dimethyl methyl phosphonate.

In the present study, tungsten oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using DC magnetron sputtering and investigated their potential for decontamination of 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) and dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP). The tungsten oxide nanoparticles were characterized by Powder XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, TEM, TGA, N2-BET and FT-IR techniques. The XRD patterns of as-deposited and post annealed tungsten oxide nanoparticles reveal that the crystallite size of detected monoclinic phase WO3 nanoparticle was increased with increasing annealing temperatures. The phase and increase in particles size of WO3 nanoparticles were also confirmed by Raman and TEM analyses. The obtained surface area (∼63-33 m(2)/g) of magnetron sputtered WO3 nanoparticles was found to be enhanced significantly as compared to reported surface area of WO3 nanoparticles synthesis by various techniques. The study of degradation reactions of CEES and DMMP on the surface of obtained nanoparticles was carried out by using GC and GC-MS techniques. The decontamination reactions were found to be pseudo first order steady state with rate constant (k) and half life values 0.143-0.109 h(-1) and 4.82-6.49 h for CEES and 0.018-0.010 h(-1) and 36.87-66.65 h for DMMP, respectively. The FT-IR data reveal the role of hydrolysis reactions in the decontamination of CEES as well as DMMP.