Hydrothermal synthesis of mesoporous VO2·½(H2O) nanosheets and study of their electrical properties

Layered sheet-like nanocrystalline VO2·½(H2O) has been synthesized by hydrothermal process using V2O5 as vanadium source and 2-phenylethylamine as a reducing agent and a structure-directing template. Techniques X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms have been used to characterize the structure, morphology and composition of the materials. Electrical conductivity measurements showed that the as synthesized VO2·½(H2O) nanosheets has a conductivity value which goes from 75 × 10−6 Ω−1 cm−1 at 298 K, to 68 10−5 Ω−1 cm−1 at 386 K with activation energy of 0.24 eV.