Nanoparticles of tungsten carbides prepared by tungsten-ion implantation in glassy carbon

Yamaki, Tetsuya; Kato, Sho*; Yamamoto, Shunya; Hakoda, Teruyuki; Kawaguchi, Kazuhiro; Kobayashi, Tomohiro*; Suzuki, Akihiro*; Terai, Takayuki*

We prepared nanoparticles of tungsten (W) carbides by W-ion implantation in an unpolished glassy carbon (GC) substrate and then examined, for the first time, their composition, electrochemical properties, and morphology. The W implantation was performed at room temperature using an energy of 100 keV and nominal fluences of up to 1.810 ions/cm. Due to a significant sputtering effect and chemical interation between the implants and substrate, mostly W carbides, a mixture of WC and WC phases, were formed on the surface. The subsequent electrochemical etching in an alkaline solution achieved the smooth surface with maximum area density of the carbide phases. Particulate aggregates were found to contain spherical nanoparticles with a diameter of 10 nm.