Microwave assisted growth of highly oriented vanadium oxides nanostructures: structural, vibrational and electrical properties

The proposed work focuses on the effects of growth time and annealing on the physico-chemical performance of vanadium oxides nanostructures (VO-NSs) films synthesized by a novel single reaction microwave synthesis. Thin films of VO-NSs were produced on glass substrates by varying the growth time and annealing temperature. Structural studies revealed that VO-NSs of synthesized films of VO2 (B) + V6O13, VO2 (B), V3O7 and V2O5 were crystallized in the form of monoclinic, monoclinic, tetragonal and orthorhombic structures with predominant orientation along (110), (110), (330) and (001) lattice plane, respectively. SEM analysis revealed that the VO-NSs thin films are dense and have uniform morphological characteristics. Furthermore, Raman spectroscopy show that all the samples undergo changes in intensities and peak positions that reflect changes in electronic structure and the vibrational properties. Our results demonstrate that the control of time and annealing treatment has a significant effect on the stoichiometry and the crystallinity leading to the control of the structure, size and morphology of VO-NSs. Moreover, the I–V curves were clearly linear and symmetrical with respect to both axes, with increasing the growth time and annealing treatment are two crucial parameters to improve the electrical conductivity, which influences the electrical properties and affects the behavior of the synthesized nanostructures. This synthesis approach offers a novel and simple route to produce one-dimensional nanostructured metal oxides, which are suitable for a wide range of applications, especially energy storage devices.