Low-Cost and Facile Synthesis of the Vanadium Oxides V2O3, VO2, and V2O5and Their Magnetic, Thermochromic and Electrochromic Properties

In this study, vanadium sesquioxide: V2O3, dioxide: VO2 and pentoxide: V2O5 were all synthesized from one single polyol route through the precipitation of an intermediate precursor: vanadium ethyleneglycolate (VEG).Various annealing treatments of the VEG precursor, under controlled atmosphere and temperature, lead to the successful synthesis of the three pure oxides, with submicronic crystallite size.To the best of our knowledge, the synthesis of the three V2O5, VO2 and V2O3 oxides from one single polyol batch has never been reported in the literature.In a second part of the study, the potentialities opened by the successful preparation of sub-micronic V2O5, VO2 and V2O3 are illustrated by: the characterization of the electrochromic properties of V2O5 films, a discussion about the metal to insulator transition of VO2 based on in situ measurements versus temperature of its electrical and optical properties, the characterization of the magnetic transition of V2O3 powder from squid measurements.For the latter compound, the influence of the crystallite size on the magnetic properties is being discussed. I.