Simple and fast fabrication of single crystal VO2 microtube arrays

Abstract

AbstractSingle crystal VO2 is a strongly correlated electron material that has shown great potential for a wide range of high-performance modern device applications, such as microbolometers, lithium ion batteries, microactuators and strain sensors. However, the present fabrication methods for single crystal VO2 almost always require complicated procedures, strict conditions and long reaction times of up to one week. Here, we report a simple, fast, low-cost and green method for fabricating single crystal VO2 using a thermal oxidation route based on resistive heating of a vanadium foil in air. Our method not only reduces the complete fabrication time from hours to tens of seconds but also naturally forms single crystal VO2 microtube arrays that are nearly vertically aligned on the surface of a V2O5 substrate. Microstructure characteristics and the reversible phase transition between the monoclinic VO2 and rutile VO2 phases demonstrate that the obtained single crystal VO2 is the same as that achieved by other fabrication methods.