Nanostructured thin films of tungsten, vanadium and titanium oxides were deposited on gas sensor substrates from the electric field assisted chemical vapour deposition reaction of tungsten hexaphenoxide, vanadyl acetylacetonate and titanium tetraisopropoxide respectively. The electric fields were generated by applying a potential difference between the inter-digitated electrodes of the gas sensor substrates during the deposition. The deposited films were characterised using scanning electronmicroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The application of an electric field, encouraged the formation of interesting and unusual nanostructured morphologies, with a change in scale length and island packing. It was also noted that crystallographic orientation of the films could be controlled as a function of electric field type and strength. The gas sensor properties of the films were also examined; it was found that a two to three fold enhancement in the gas response could be observed from sensors with enhanced morphologies compared to control sensors grown without application of an electric field. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.