Structural Insights and hydrogen retention in amorphous and crystalline tungsten oxide filmsZavašnik, Janez (Avtor) Shvalya, Vasyl (Avtor) Kremer, Kristof (Avtor) Schwarz-Selinger, Thomas (Avtor) Jacob, Wolfgang (Avtor) We investigated structural characteristics of and hydrogen isotope interactions with thermally and electro chemically synthesized tungsten oxide (W-oxide) thin films (≤50 nm). Specifically, we assessed whether elec trochemically synthesized W-oxide could serve as a suitable proxy for thermally grown films in hydrogen interaction studies. The W-oxide thin films were exposed to low-energetic atomic deuterium (D) to explore the hydrogen uptake, retention, and intercalation effects of the W-oxide structure. The W-oxides were characterized using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) before and after deuterium exposure. The thermally grown W-oxides are crystalline, composed of orthorhombic WO3, while the electrochemically grown W-oxides are amorphous with nanocrystalline domains. Deuterium retention studies revealed that the electrochemically grown W-oxides show higher initial D retention compared with their thermally grown coun terparts and lower D release over time during storage, suggesting stronger D binding within the amorphous matrix. Using ion beam analysis, we quantified the deuterium retention and examined the depth-resolved reduction of the oxide within the films following deuterium exposureElsevier20252025-02-28 11:33:49Neznano21578Nizozemskasl© 2025 The Author(s)