Vanadium Oxide Nanoparticles

VO₂ is one of the oxides of the group one element vanadium (V). This material is a semiconductor oxide and in the category of phase-changing materials (PCMs). VO₂ nanoparticles are found in the form of black powder. VO₂ shows significant changes in electrical and optical properties at a transition temperature of T_c~68 °C. At this critical temperature, the insulating monoclinic crystallographic configuration of VO₂ transforms into a metallic rutile crystallographic configuration. This structural and electronic phase transition of vanadium oxide can be triggered by heat, laser pulses or electric fields. The most important aspect of this phase transitions is the extremely fast response of VO₂. Phase transitions can occur in less than 100 fs when triggered by a laser pulse. Possible applications of VO₂ nanoparticles are;

• Optical, electrical, RF-microwave switches,
• Nano-scale data storage,
• Photonics applications,
• Smart windows,
• Tunable plasmonic and metamaterial systems,
• Sensors.