Ag nanoparticle decorated molybdenum oxide structures: growth, characterization, DFT studies and their application to enhanced field emission.

We report a simple single step growth of α-MoO structures and energetically suitable site specific Ag nanoparticle (NP) decorated α-MoO structures on varied substrates, having almost similar morphologies and oxygen vacancies. We elucidate possible growth mechanisms in light of experimental findings and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We experimentally establish and verified by DFT calculations that the MoO(010) surface is a weakly interacting and stable surface compared to other orientations.