No Arabic abstract
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a phase transition material that undergoes a reversible insulator-metal phase transition at ~ 68 C. Atmospheric pressure thermal oxidation (APTO) of vanadium (V) is a simple VO2 synthesis method in which V thin film is oxidized in open air. For an optimum oxidation duration, VO2 films are obtained with good phase transition properties. We recently reported a modified APTO process using a step temperature profile for oxidation (Thin Solid Films 706, 138003 (2020)). We demonstrated an ultra-low thermal budget synthesis of VO2 thin films with good electrical and optical phase transition properties. For a 130 nm room-temperature RF sputtered V thin film, an optimum oxidation duration of ~ 30 s was obtained. In this work, we study how the starting V film thickness and deposition temperature affects the optimum oxidation duration. V thin films of varying thickness (15-212 nm) and 120 nm thick V films with varying deposition temperature (~27-450 C) are prepared using RF magnetron sputtering. These films are oxidized for different oxidation durations and characterized using Raman and four-probe measurements to find the optimum oxidation duration for each deposition condition. We find that the optimum oxidation duration increases with the increase in V film thickness and V deposition temperature. We model the effect of V film thickness and deposition temperature on the optimal oxidation time using a parabolic law which can be used to obtain the optimal oxidation times for intermediate V thicknesses/deposition temperatures.
We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the melting curve and the structural behavior of vanadium under extreme pressure and temperature. We performed powder x-ray diffraction experiments up to 120 GPa and 4000 K, determining the phase boundary of the bcc-to-rhombohedral transition and melting temperatures at different pressures. Melting temperatures have also been established from the observation of temperature plateaus during laser heating, and the results from the density-functional theory calculations. Results obtained from our experiments and calculations are fully consistent and lead to an accurate determination of the melting curve of vanadium. These results are discussed in comparison with previous studies. The melting temperatures determined in this study are higher than those previously obtained using the speckle method, but also considerably lower than those obtained from shock-wave experiments and linear muffin-tin orbital calculations. Finally, a high-pressure high-temperature equation of state up to 120 GPa and 2800 K has also been determined.
Vanadium dioxide is a complex oxide material, which shows large resistivity and optical reflectance change while transitioning from the insulator to metal phase at ~68 {deg}C. In this work, we use a modified atmospheric thermal oxidation method to oxidize RF-sputtered Vanadium films. Structural, surface-morphology and phase-transition properties of the oxidized films as a function of oxidation duration are presented. Phase-pure VO2 films are obtained by oxidizing ~130 nm Vanadium films in short oxidation duration of ~30 seconds. Compared to previous reports on VO2 synthesis using atmospheric oxidation of Vanadium films of similar thickness, we obtain a reduction in oxidation duration by more than one order. Synthesized VO2 thin film shows resistance switching of ~3 orders of magnitude. We demonstrate optical reflectance switching in long-wave infrared wavelengths in VO2 films synthesized using atmospheric oxidation of Vanadium. The extracted refractive index of VO2 in the insulating and in the metallic phase is in good agreement with VO2 synthesized using other methods. The considerable reduction in oxidation time of VO2 synthesis while retaining good resistance and optical switching properties will help in integration of VO2 in limited thermal budget processes, enabling further applications of this phase-transition material.
Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) is a strongly correlated material, which exhibits insulator to metal transition at ~68 C along with large resistivity and infrared optical reflectance modulation. In this work, we use atmospheric pressure thermal oxidation of Vanadium to synthesize VO2 films on glass and ITO coated glass substrates. With the optimized short oxidation durations of 2 min and 4 min, the synthesized VO2 film shows high optical reflectance switching in long-wavelength infrared on glass substrates and mid-wavelength infrared on ITO coated glass substrates, respectively. Peak reflectance switching values of ~76% and ~79% are obtained on the respective substrates, which are among the highest reported values. Using the reflectance data, we extract VO2 complex refractive index in infrared wavelengths, in both the insulating and metallic phases. The extracted refractive index shows good agreement with VO2 synthesized using other methods. This demonstration of high optical reflectance switching in VO2 thin films, grown on low cost glass and ITO coated glass substrates, using a simple low thermal budget process will aid in enhancing VO2 applications in the optical domain.
The complexity of strongly correlated electron physics in vanadium dioxide is exemplified as its rich phase diagrams of all kinds, which in turn shed light on the mechanisms behind its various phase transitions. In this work, we map out the hydrostatic pressure - temperature phase diagram of vanadium dioxide nanobeams by independently varying pressure and temperature with a diamond anvil cell. In addition to the well-known insulating M1 (monoclinic) and metallic R (tetragonal) phases, the diagram identifies the existence at high pressures of the insulating M1 (monoclinic, more conductive than M1) phase, and two metallic phases of X (monoclinic) and O (orthorhombic, at high temperature only). Systematic optical and electrical measurements combined with density functional calculations allow us to delineate their phase boundaries as well as reveal some basic features of the transitions.
The study of the interaction between graphene oxide and arsenic is of great relevance towards the development of adsorbent materials and as a way to understand how these two materials interact in the environment. In this work we show that As(III) adsorption, primarily H3AsO3, by graphene oxide is dependent on its degree of oxidation. Variations in the concentration of potassium permanganate resulted in an increase on the C/O ratio from 1.98 to 1.35 with C-OH and C-O-C concentrations of 18 and 32%, respectively. Three oxidation degrees were studied, the less oxidized material reached a maximum As(III) adsorption capacity of 124 mg/g, whereas the graphene with the highest degree of oxidation reached a value of 288 mg/g at pH 7, to the authors knowledge, the highest reported in the literature. The interaction between graphene oxide and As(III) was also studied by Density Functional Theory (DFT) computer models showing that graphene oxide interacts with As(III) primarily through hydrogen bonds, having interaction energies with the hydroxyl and epoxide groups of 378 and 361 kcal/mol, respectively. Finally, cytotoxicity tests showed that the graphene oxide had a cellular viability of 57% with 50 {mu}g/ml, regardless of its degree of oxidation.