AFM studies on surface morphology evolution after annealing of V 2 O 5 thin films grown by spray pyrolysis

The present work regards atomic force microscopy studies on surface morphology evolution after annealing of V 2 O 5 electrochromic thin films. It was observed the growth a novel type of nanostructured V 2 O 5 thin films using as deposition technique spray deposition at low temperature (250°C) followed by thermal annealing in oxygen at 400°C. Since the electrochromicity is dependent on the film active surface dimensions and structure, AFM studies were performed and surface related parameters estimated. Surface roughness and grain size for all the samples shows a direct relation with the charges transferred during cycling voltammetry measurements. The average roughness, maximum peak to valley height, root mean square (RMS) roughness and surface skewness parameters were estimated in order to analyze the surface morphology of V 2 O 5 films.