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Structure and Metal‐to‐Insulator Transition of VO 2 Nanowires Grown on Sapphire Substrates
Author(s) -
Cheng Yao,
Zhang Ting,
Cai Yuan,
Ho Kin Ming,
Fung Kwok Kwong,
Wang Ning
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201000479
Subject(s) - sapphire , nanowire , nucleation , hysteresis , ferroelectricity , chemistry , condensed matter physics , insulator (electricity) , nanotechnology , vapor–liquid–solid method , chemical physics , crystallography , optoelectronics , materials science , optics , dielectric , laser , physics , organic chemistry
Single‐crystalline VO 2 nanowires exhibit interesting growth phenomena along three equivalent <1 $\bar {1}$ 00> directions of the C‐planes of the sapphire substrates. Under certain growth conditions, VO 2 nanowires form V‐shaped twining structures with uniform morphologies and interfaces. Due to the strong elastic stress at the interfaces, the metal‐to‐insulator transition (MIT) of individual VO 2 nanowires grown directly on sapphire substrates were observed to display distinct electrical hysteresis loops relative to VO 2 nanowires dispersed on sapphire substrates. The distinctive characteristics in the hysteresis loops, exhibited in the process of MIT, are shown to be correlated with the nucleation and growth of periodic/random domain structures in the nanowires during the heating and cooling processes. The periodic domain structures observed in the directly grown nanowires can be explained under the framework of a modified stress‐induced elastic energy model that was first developed for ferroelectric systems.