Size- and Interface-Modulated Metal-Insulator Transition in Solution-Synthesized Nanoscale VO2 -TiO2 -VO2 Heterostructures.

The M1 form of vanadium dioxide, which exhibits a reversible insulator-metal transition above room temperature, has been incorporated into nanoscale heterostructures through solution-phase epitaxial growth on the tips of rutile TiO2 nanorods. Four distinct classes of VO2 -TiO2 -VO2 nanorod heterostructures are accessible by modulating the growth conditions. Each type of VO2 -TiO2 -VO2 nanostructure has a different insulator-metal transition temperature that depends on the VO2 domain sizes and the TiO2 -VO2 interfacial strain characteristics.