Publication detail

Analytical electron microscopy analysis of insulating and metallic phases in nanostructured vanadium dioxide

KRPENSKÝ, J. HORÁK, M. KABÁT, J. PLANER, J. KEPIČ, P. KŘÁPEK, V. KONEČNÁ, A.

Original Title

Analytical electron microscopy analysis of insulating and metallic phases in nanostructured vanadium dioxide

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a strongly correlated material that exhibits the insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) near room temperature, which makes it a promising candidate for applications in nanophotonics or optoelectronics. However, creating VO2 nanostructures with the desired functionality can be challenging due to microscopic inhomogeneities that can significantly impact the local optical and electronic properties. Thin lamellas, produced by focused ion beam milling from a homogeneous layer, provide a useful prototype for studying VO2 at the truly microscopic level using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). High-resolution imaging is used to identify structural inhomogeneities while electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) supported by statistical analysis helps to detect VxOy stoichiometries with a reduced oxidation number of vanadium at the areas of thickness below 70 nm. On the other hand, the thicker areas are dominated by vanadium dioxide, where the signatures of the IMT are detected in both core-loss and low-loss EELS experiments with in situ heating. The experimental results are interpreted with ab initio and semi-classical calculations. This work shows that structural inhomogeneities such as pores and cracks present no harm to the desired optical properties of VO2 samples. We utilize analytical electron microscopy with in situ heating to observe the insulator-metal transition in vanadium dioxide and to identify additional vanadium oxides across the sample exhibiting nanoscopic pores and cracks.

Keywords

ENERGY-LOSS; IN-SITU; VO2; TRANSITION; EELS; SPECTROSCOPY; DYNAMICS; OXIDES; FILMS; TEM

Authors

KRPENSKÝ, J.; HORÁK, M.; KABÁT, J.; PLANER, J.; KEPIČ, P.; KŘÁPEK, V.; KONEČNÁ, A.

Released

3. 5. 2024

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Location

CAMBRIDGE

ISBN

2516-0230

Periodical

NANOSCALE ADVANCES

Year of study

2024

Number

13

State

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Pages from

3338

Pages to

3346

Pages count

9

URL

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/na/d4na00338a

Full text in the Digital Library

http://hdl.handle.net/11012/249368

BibTex

@article{BUT188816,
  author="Jan {Krpenský} and Michal {Horák} and Jiří {Kabát} and Jakub {Planer} and Peter {Kepič} and Vlastimil {Křápek} and Andrea {Konečná}",
  title="Analytical electron microscopy analysis of insulating and metallic phases in nanostructured vanadium dioxide",
  journal="NANOSCALE ADVANCES",
  year="2024",
  volume="2024",
  number="13",
  pages="3338--3346",
  doi="10.1039/d4na00338a",
  issn="2516-0230",
  url="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/na/d4na00338a"
}