Issue 6, 2011

Highly depressed temperature-induced metal-insulator transition in synthetic monodisperse 10-nm V2O3 pseudocubes enclosed by {012} facets

Abstract

Monodisperse 10-nm V2O3 pseudocubes enclosed by {012} facets were successfully synthesized for the first time via a novel and facile solvothermal method, offering the first opportunity to elucidate the effect of finite-size and facet on the temperature-induced reversible metal-insulator transition (MIT) behavior of V2O3. Very excitingly, the transition temperature of these V2O3 pseudocubes drastically depressed from 133 K to 36 K and their corresponding hysteresis width highly narrowed from 17 K to 5 K, compared to the MIT behaviors of other irregular V2O3 particles with average sizes of 10 nm, 20 nm, 40 nm, 170 nm and 2 μm. Notably, the size-related surface energy, grain boundary connectivity and volume expansion could be used to account for their strong size-dependent transition temperature and hysteresis width. Moreover, the improved grain boundary connectivity associated with well-defined {012} facets enabled these 10-nm V2O3 pseudocubes to display a 10 times higher resistivity jump (at the order of 105) and by nearly one-half smaller hysteresis width of 5 K than the irregular 10-nm V2O3 particles with randomly exposed facets, directly evidencing the pronounced influence of facets on the MIT behavior. Briefly, the present work not only develops an effective strategy for synthesizing high-quality nanocrystals but also provides an excellent platform to investigate the size- and facet-dependent temperature-induced MIT behavior, enabling to design smart electrical switching nano-devices in the rapidly developing ultra-low temperature field.

Graphical abstract: Highly depressed temperature-induced metal-insulator transition in synthetic monodisperse 10-nm V2O3 pseudocubes enclosed by {012} facets

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Feb 2011
Accepted
01 Apr 2011
First published
09 May 2011

Nanoscale, 2011,3, 2609-2614

Highly depressed temperature-induced metal-insulator transition in synthetic monodisperse 10-nm V2O3 pseudocubes enclosed by {012} facets

Y. Sun, B. Qu, S. Jiang, C. Wu, B. Pan and Y. Xie, Nanoscale, 2011, 3, 2609 DOI: 10.1039/C1NR10179J

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