Facile Synthesis and Phase Transition of V2O3 Nanobelts

The controlled synthesis of high quality one-dimensional V2O3 materials is critical for addressing the fundamental aspects of metal–insulator transition (MIT) in these materials. Here we developed a controllable approach for synthesizing pristine V2O3 nanobelts by reducing hydrothermally synthesized V2O5 nanobelts in the gas phase. The obtained V2O3 nanobelts showed high crystallinity and purity with length up to tens of micrometers. We investigated the changes in electrical conductance, magnetic susceptibility and Raman spectra that accompanied the phase transition of nanobelts with variable-temperature measurements. The MIT behaviour of V2O3 nanobelts was very similar to that of the bulk materials while the magnetic phase transition of V2O3 was suppressed in the nanobelts due to the finite size effect. This simple and reliable synthesis approach makes the V2O3 nanobelts easily accessible for exploring their fundamental properties and potential applications in novel electronic devices.