Tungsten oxide and titanium-oxide-doped tungsten oxide nanowires were synthesized by using the DC magnetron sputtering and infrared furnace annealing processes. Scanning election microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to evaluate the topography and sizes. X-ray diffraction (XRD), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GI-XRD), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to analyze the composition and structure. From the results of HRTEM, it was discovered that the prepared nanowires have a monoclinic single-crystal phase of W18O49 with lattice growth along the (010) lattice plane, and the lattice spacing is 0.378 nm, which agrees with XRD and GI-XRD results. The prepared tungsten oxide and titanium-oxide-doped tungsten oxide nanowires have turn-on voltage of 3.06 V/mu m and 1.46 V/mu m than respectively. They also possess superior field enhancement factors of 5103 and 10667 respectively. Their behavior thus follows the Fowler-Nordheim expression for tunneling. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.