Electron beam evaporated gold doped tungsten oxide nanostructured films for sensor applications

•The nanostructure Au:WO3 films were prepared by electron beam evaporation.•Undoped WO3 films exhibited nanoflakes which are dense and uniformly distributed on the substrate.•The WO3 films microstructure was changed from nanoflakes to nanorods by varying the wt% of Au.•15 wt% Au doped WO3 nanostructure films showed overly sensitivity towards ethanol and response (sensitivity) value is 89.