Designing a solid state crystal architecture at nanoscale,
using a soft chemistry approach, is the key step toward their scalable
synthesis for sustainable application in electrochemical charge storage
devices. We investigate the application of NH- and CH-substituted
ureas, namely, carbohydrazide, semicarbazide, N-methylurea,
and tetramethylurea as design elements/motifs in the tailored synthesis
of WO3–x
nanostructures via direct
calcination of tungstic acid-substituted urea hybrid gels. The SEM,
HRTEM, SAED, XRD, XPS, and TG-DTA studies reveal that NH-substitution
in urea induces a profound growth of WO3–x
one-dimensional (1D) nanorods, preferentially growing along
the (002) plane with enhancement in the percentage of oxygen vacancies.
On the contrary, with the increase in CH-substitution in urea, the
tendency to form 1D nanorods via self- assembly process decreases,
possibly due to an increase in the steric effect of the methyl groups.
We further demonstrate the corresponding effect of morphological and
chemical changes in WO3–x
nanostructure
on their improved electrified interfacial processes via H+ intercalation using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge,
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests, and chronoamperometric
studies. Our findings reveal that the enhancement in WO3–x
nanorod growth, W5+/W6+ redox
surface states, and abundance of (002) surface plane due to NH-substitution
in urea play a crucial role in facilitating the diffusion process
of H+/e– in and out of the WO3–x
matrix. An area specific capacitance of 132 mF cm–2 at the current density of 1 mA cm–2 with excellent capacitance retention is reported. Moreover, significant
improvements in the charge–discharge times were observed, the
highest being the one for WO3–x
nanorods obtained using carbohydrazide, demonstrating its potential
for possible application in designing 1D nanomaterials for energy
storage systems.