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Title: Controlling the Temperature and Speed of the Phase Transition of VO2 Microcrystals

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics
  2. Hong Kong Univ., of Science and Technology (China). Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
  4. Gwangju Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Physics and Photon Science, Ertl Center for Electrochemistry and Catalysis
  5. Hanbat National Univ., Daejeon (Republic of Korea). Division of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology; Advanced Nano Products, Sejong (Republic of Korea)

Here, we investigated the control of two important parameters of vanadium dioxide (VO2 ) microcrystals, the phase transition temperature and speed, by varying microcrystal width. By using the reflectivity change between insulating and metallic phases, phase transition temperature is measured by optical microscopy. As the width of square cylinder-shaped microcrystals decreases from ~70 to ~1 μm, the phase transition temperature (67 °C for bulk) varied as much as 26.1 °C (19.7 °C) during heating (cooling). In addition, the propagation speed of phase boundary in the microcrystal, i.e., phase transition speed, is monitored at the onset of phase transition by using the high-speed resistance measurement. The phase transition speed increases from 4.6 × 10 2 to 1.7 × 10 4 μm/s as the width decreases from ~50 to ~2 μm. While the statistical description for a heterogeneous nucleation process explains the size dependence on phase transition temperature of VO2 , the increase of effective thermal exchange process is responsible for the enhancement of phase transition speed of small VO 2 microcrystals. These findings not only enhance the understanding of VO 2 intrinsic properties but also contribute to the development of innovative electronic devices.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1379049
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 3; ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

Radiative Thermal Memristor journal July 2019
Theoretical framework of the thermal memristor via a solid-state phase change material journal January 2019
Spatiotemporal dynamics of the spin transition in [ Fe ( HB ( tz ) 3 ) 2 ] single crystals journal October 2017
Size and crystallinity control of dispersed VO 2 particles for modulation of metal–insulator transition temperature and hysteresis journal January 2019