Laser-assisted growth of molybdenum rods

In this paper, we report for the first time the laser-assisted growth of molybdenum rods via the H2 reduction of MoF6 with a focused Ar+ laser beam as the heat source. By varying the gas composition, total pressure, and laser power rods with different morphologies were deposited on a tungsten wire. At low H2/MoF6 molar ratios crystal-like rods were obtained and at higher molar ratios the rods became dendrite-like. The activation energy for the process was determined to be 77±7 kJ mol−1 in the temperature range 705–840 K. The reaction order showed to be nearly 3 with respect to the hydrogen partial pressure and zero order with respect to the molybdenum hexafluoride partial pressure. Compositional and morphological characterisation were performed with scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersed X-ray spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy.