Rapid Single-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of Phase Pure VO2 (M) with Tailored Morphology

Monoclinic VO2 (M) is a material of great significance in the study of correlation effects in solids because of its reversible metal-insulator phase transition between VO2 (M) and VO2 (R) just above the room temperature. Synthesizing pure monoclinic VO2 (M) can be a challenging task due to the formation of other polymorphs such as VO2 (A), VO2 (B), VO2 (D) and VO2 (P) etc. during the synthesis. Additionally, these synthesis techniques involve complex multistep procedures with protective gas environment and controlled reaction parameters clubbed with elongated reaction time ranging from 1 to 7 days which are major obstacles in the mass production of this material. Here we report a novel and rapid synthetic protocol of VO2 (M) for first time using diethylene triamine (DETA) as a reducing and morphology controlling agent in hydrogen peroxide medium. The detailed characterization of prepared materials confirms the formation of phase pure VO2 (M) crystalline powders. The present approach helps to tune these particles from one-dimensional rods to two-dimensional petals like structures.