Synthesis of vanadium dioxide thin films and nanostructures

Vanadium oxides (VxOy) are classic smart functional materials used in a wide array of thermochromic, electronic, and catalytic applications. Specifically, vanadium dioxide (VO2) class nanomaterials are of enormous interest due to their unique first order reversible metal-insulator phase transition (MIT) behavior accompanied by a structural phase transition, inducing dramatic changes in electrical and optical properties with large lattice deformation. To date, a plethora of reports exemplifying the MIT characteristics of VO2, synthetic methods of VO2, and modulating VO2 phase transition temperatures (T-c) have been published. In this Tutorial Review, we present an overview on the fundamentals of the VO2 band structure and principles of MIT and outline various reported synthetic approaches for VO2 thin films, including dimensionally oriented VO2 nanostructures. Discussion on recent trends in VO2 applications, challenges in VO2 synthesis, and future perspectives are also elaborated in detail.