Enhanced erosion resistance and radiation stability of WC–WO₃ nanocomposite films under 100 keV Kr⁺ ion irradiation

• Shristi Bist,
• Parswajit Kalita,
• Ratnesh K. Pandey,
• Sejal Shah,
• Richa Krishna,
• Umapathy G. R.,
• Sunil Ojha and
• Devesh K. Avasthi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2026, 17, 922–934, doi:10.3762/bjnano.17.65

• /bjnano.17.65 Abstract Plasma-facing components (PFCs) in fusion reactors are exposed to extreme radiation and thermal environments, leading to material degradation processes such as sputtering erosion and amorphization. This study investigates and compares the erosion behaviour of tungsten (W) in

• -facing materials; sputtering erosion; WC–WO3 nanocomposites; Introduction Tungsten carbide (WC) and tungsten trioxide (WO3) are two hard and high-temperature-stable compounds that have individually demonstrated exceptional properties, including high melting points, mechanical strength, and chemical

• complete area (i.e., 1 cm × 1 cm) to study the structural modifications due to ion irradiation. The pristine and irradiated halves were analysed using RBS with a 2 MeV He-ion beam from the 1.7 MV Pelletron accelerator at IUAC to measure the sputtering/erosion rate. The RBS measurements were taken at a