Charge Density Waves in Nano Alkali Molybdenum Oxide Bronzes

New computing paradigms require new materials exploiting novel phenomena. Another likely requirement is that the material be highly scalable and therefore nanosized. Here we present the preparation and characterization of nanoscale K0.3MoO3 an alkali molybdenum oxide and quasi 1D charge density wave (CDW) material. In bulk K0.3MoO3, CDWs are accompanied by many nonlinear electronic phenomena, such as hysteresis, nonlinear conductivity, and DC to AC conversion, as well as electrically controllable optical and IR properties. These novel phenomena may have some future potential application in computing.<br/> We first present the synthesis of bulk powder K0.3MoO3 using redox mechanochemistry and thermal annealing under an inert atmosphere. From this bulk powder we then synthesize nanoscale K0.3MoO3 by additional mechanochemical ball milling and filtration and then deposit the product on Silicon wafers. We show that the crystal structure of the product is maintained while the average size is reduced with good distribution control using characterization by standards methods including x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. We then comment on the change in the optical properties and CDW temperature as a function of size.