LAUSR

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) exhibits a metal-insulator transition (MIT) that is accompanied by steep changes in electrical and optical properties, making it an important component of device architectures that require facile switching between metal and insulating states. VO2 nanostructures are particularly useful components of such devices, given their unique size-dependent properties and processing capabilities. Here, we show that VO2 nanostructures can be synthesized by chemical transformation of ZnO nanoparticles, which are readily available and serve as morphological templates. Commercially available and colloidally synthesized ZnO nanoparticles react with VOSO4 in water at room temperature to form amorphous VO2, which can be crystallized to the switchable M1 phase of VO2 upon thermal annealing. Experiments probing various particle dimensions, shapes, surface ligands, and reaction parameters suggest that the reaction occurs by depositing VO2 on the ZnO particles, which serve as a sacrificial template. The Z...