LAUSR

Smart materials are leading the future of materials by virtue of their autonomous response behavior to external stimuli; it is widely believed their development and application will bring a new revolution. Among them, vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a special one showing a unique multi-stimulus responsive metal-insulator transition (MIT) accompanied by a structural phase transition (SPT) with striking changes of physical properties including optical, electrical and thermal properties, etc., making it ideal for smart windows, micro-bolometers, actuators, etc. Since the attractive performances of VO2 are rooted in MIT behavior (coupled with SPT), element doping becomes a powerful tool in tailoring VO2 performance. Oriented on the practical requirements, element-doped VO2 is more promising and competitive in terms of performance, prospect, and cost. Here we focus specifically on element-doped VO2, the recent progress and potential challenges of which are discussed. We devote attention to the crucial roles of element doping in modulating the properties and driving the practicality of VO2, aiming to inspire current research to pioneer new applications of VO2.