Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a well‐studied Mott‐insulator because of the very abrupt physical property switching during its semiconductor‐to‐metal transition (SMT) around 341 K (68 °C). In this work, through novel oxide‐metal nanocomposite designs (i.e., Au:VO2and Pt:VO2), a very broad range of SMT temperature tuning from
Mott insulator VO2exhibits an ultrafast and reversible semiconductor‐to‐metal transition (SMT) near 340 K (67 °C). In order to fulfill the multifunctional device applications, effective transition temperature (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10464635
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Physics Research
- Volume:
- 2
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2751-1200
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract ≈ 323.5 to≈ 366.7 K has been achieved by varying the metallic secondary phase in the nanocomposites (i.e., Au:VO2and Pt:VO2thin films, respectively). More surprisingly, the SMTT ccan be further lowered to≈ 301.8 K (near room temperature) by reducing the Au particle size from 11.7 to 1.7 nm. All the VO2nanocomposite thin films maintain superior phase transition performance, i.e., large transition amplitude, very sharp transition, and narrow width of thermal hysteresis. Correspondingly, a twofold variation of the complex dielectric function has been demonstrated in these metal‐VO2nanocomposites. The wide range physical property tuning is attributed to the band structure reconstruction at the metal‐VO2phase boundaries. This demonstration paved a novel approach for tuning the phase transition property of Mott‐insulating materials to near room temperature transition, which is important for sensors, electrical switches, smart windows, and actuators. -
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