Electrochemical properties of vanadium oxide coatings grown by hydrothermal synthesis on FTO substrates

Vanadium oxide coatings were hydrothermally grown on fluorine doped tin dioxide glass substrates at 95 °C and further annealed at 100 and 300 °C. The coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV-vis transmittance and cyclic voltammetry. Crystalline vanadium(V) oxide with the highest surface area ratio was observed for thermal treatment at 300 °C. In addition, the same sample presented the highest intercalation charge and enhanced durability compared with the others. The importance of achieving single-phase crystalline oxide for the improvement of the coatings performance was highlighted.