Research Journal of 
Recent 
Sciences 
______
______________________________
______
____
___
 
ISSN 2277
-
2502
 
 
Vol. 
2
(
3
), 
67
-
73
, 
March
 
(201
3
)
 
Res.J.
Recent 
Sci.
 
 
 
 
International Science Congress Association
 
 
 
 
    
67
 
Review Paper
 
Vanadium Pentoxide Cathode Material for Fabrication of All Solid State 
Lithium
-
Ion Batteries 
-
 
A Case Study
 
 
Rao M.C.
 
Department of Physics, Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada 
–
 
520008, INDIA
 
 
Available online at: 
www.isca.in
 
Received 
25
th
 
September
 
2012
, revised
 
27
th
 
October
 
2012
, accepted
 
7
th
 
November 
2012
 
 
 
 
Abstract
 
 
Transition metal oxides have been a subject of research in recent years in view of their fundamental and technological 
aspects. Among these, va
nadium creates many compounds with oxygen; these have different structural, optical and chemical 
properties. Vanadium pentoxide (V
2
O
5
) is a thermodynamically stable form which exhibits electrochromic properties. A lot of 
recent research has been focused on
 
the synthesis and fabrication of nanostructured vanadium oxides to mitigate the slow 
electrochemical kinetics with high specific surface area and short diffusion distance. Vanadium pentoxide with a layered 
structure is promising for smart window applicati
ons. V
2
O
5
 
crystallizes with an orthorhombic unit cell and belongs to P
mnm
 
space group with lattice parameter a = 11.510 Å, b = 3.563 Å, c = 4.369 Å, where the b and c are often interchanged. The 
stoichiometry of V
2
O
5 
is considered as deformed
 
octahedral VO
6
 
which serves as the building block of the V
2
O
5 
structure. As 
a thin film, it exhibits multi colored electrochromism and has high potential for use in electrochromic display devices, colo
r 
filters and other optical devices. Bulk and thin film V
2
O
5
 
with va
ndal oxygen vacancies have been used as an oxidation 
catalyst. This paper deals with the detailed technological aspects of properties, different structures of V
2
O
5
 
as candidate 
cathode material for the fabrication of all solid state lithium ion batteries w
ith wide applications of V
2
O
5 
films as 
electrochromic cells and gas sensors. 
 
 
Keywords
: V
2
O
5
 
c
athode 
m
aterial, 
l
ayered 
s
tructure, 
p
roperties, V
2
O
5
 
n
anostructures,
 
V
2
O
5 
films, 
a
pplications, 
e
lectrochromic cells and 
g
asochromism
.
 
 
Introduction
 
The basis o
f all materials science involves relating the desired 
properties and relative performance of a material in a certain 
application to the structure of the atoms and phases in that 
material through characterization. The major determinants of the 
structure of 
a material and thus of its properties are its 
constituent chemical elements and the way in which it has been 
processed into its final form. In addition to industrial interest, 
materials science has gradually developed into a field which 
provides tests for 
condensed matter or solid state theories. 
Therefore studying about materials science can be a bridge to a 
career in any of these emerging technologies. Among the 
materials that meet the current prerequisites, metal oxides with 
many interesting physical and
 
chemical properties have been 
scientifically and technologically exploited in many fields like 
environmental science, electrochemistry, microelectronics, 
optoelectronics and relating fields. Depending upon their 
physical properties, they can be broadly ca
tegorized into the 
significant groups such as non
-
transition metal oxides and 
transition metal oxides.
 
 
Transition metal oxides have been a subject of research in recent 
years in view of their fundamental and technological aspects. 
Among these, vanadium cr
eates many compounds with oxygen; 
these have different structural, optical and chemical properties. 
Meaningful differences between the properties of different 
phases of vanadium oxides like VO, VO
2
, V
2
O
3
 
and V
2
O
5
 
depend on their structure, which determines
 
other properties. 
Different forms of vanadium oxides can be obtained by 
changing the deposition process parameters, or by post
-
process 
treatment, e.g., additional annealing. From the application point 
of view, the most interesting vanadium oxides are VO
2
 
and 
V
2
O
5
. Vanadium dioxide is a very good candidate for 
thermochromic coatings due to the change of properties from 
semiconducting to semimetal at 68 °C. Vanadium pentoxide is a 
thermodynamically stable form which exhibits electrochromic 
properties. V
2
O
5
 
t
hin films can also be used in optical filters, 
reflectance mirrors, smart windows and surfaces with tunable 
emittance for temperature control of space vehicles.
 
 
In the past decade, nanostructured vanadium oxide compounds 
have attracted much interest due t
o their chemical and physical 
properties and their great potential for applications in catalysis
1
 
as sensors in electro chromic devices in electrochemistry in 
photo catalytic activities and in spintronic devices. Among the 
various vanadium oxide compositio
ns that can be obtained, 
vanadium pentoxide possesses a unique set of properties and is 
one of the most widely studied of the more stable phases of 
vanadium oxides
2
. Because its structure is composed of two
-
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68
 
dimensional layers, this material is also used as
 
an intercalation 
compound. Since the reversible electrochemical lithium ion 
intercalation in V
2
O
5
 
was first reported in 1976 vanadium 
pentoxide has been intensively investigated as a cathode 
material for rechargeable lithium
-
ion batteries because of its l
ow 
cost, abundance, easy synthesis, and high energy density
3
. It is a 
typical intercalation compound with a layered crystal structure, 
with a large variety of atomic and molecular species that can be 
reversibly intercalated and extracted between the layers
. 
However, the development of rechargeable lithium
-
ion batteries 
with vanadium pentoxide as a cathode has been limited for its 
poor structural stability, low electronic conductivity and ionic 
conductivity and slow electrochemical kinetics.
 
 
When V
2
O
5
 
inter
calates Li
+
, electrical energy stores in the 
electrode. Energy releases from the electrode when Li
+
 
diffuses 
out. For electrochemical pseudo capacitor applications, the 
charge/discharge rate and the energy storage capacity are the 
most important parameters
. Larger surface area and easy charge 
transport are required to achieve high charge/discharge rate
4
. 
V
2
O
5
 
xerogel and aero gel, both offer large surface area, have 
been explored for such application and have demonstrated a 
current density of 6 C (C is abou
t 150 mAh/g V
2
O
5
) without 
storage loss. However, V
2
O
5
 
xerogel and aerogels are well
-
known to suffer from their structural stability; the porous 
structure readily collapses during Li
+
 
intercalation and 
extraction processes.
 
 
V
2
O
5
, as an active lithium ion i
ntercalation host, has been 
intensively studied as the positive electrode material for lithium 
ion batteries for the past decades and has recently been 
commercialized; V
2
O
5
 
electrodes fabricated by various methods 
like sputtering thermal evaporation, elect
rophoretic deposition
5
 
and sol
–
gel casting were all studied for their lithium ion 
intercalation capabilities. Chemical composition, crystal 
structure and crystallinity, and micro
-
 
and nanostructures were 
all found to play critical roles in determining lith
ium ion 
intercalation capacities and cyclic stabilities. However, even 
with optimized micro, and nanostructures and crystallinity, the 
practical application of vanadium oxides in lithium ion batteries 
was still limited by the relatively poor cyclic stabili
ty though 
this is a general concern for most lithium ion intercalation 
electrodes and researchers have been actively searching for 
effective methods to solve this problem. Surface coating has 
shown to be a viable method to improve the intercalation cyclic 
stability. For example, a thin layer of carbon or inert oxides 
could prevent the active material (electrode) from dissolution in 
the electrolyte while at the same time improving the 
electrode/electrolyte interfacial charge transfer process. This 
surface co
ating has already been successfully used on 
commercialized cathode materials, such as LiCoO
2
 
with well 
improved cyclic stability
6
.
 
 
A lot of recent research has been focused on the synthesis and 
fabrication of nanostructured vanadium oxides to mitigate the
 
slow electrochemical kinetics with high specific surface area 
and short diffusion distance. For example, single
-
crystal V
2
O
5
 
nanorod arrays demonstrated much improved electrochemical 
Li
-
ion intercalation properties
7
. Such improvement has been 
attributed t
o the long axis (growth direction) of the single
-
crystal nanorod arrays parallel to the interlayer of V
2
O
5
, and 
thus providing shorter and simpler diffusion paths for lithium 
ions and allowing the most freedom for dimension change 
accompanying the lithium 
ion intercalation and extraction. 
Similar enhancement has been found in platelet and febrile 
structured V
2
O
5
 
films; however, some nanostructured films 
suffer from poor cyclic stability. The cyclic stability could be 
improved when nanostructures are appropr
iately designed and   
fabricated
8
. Doping transition metal ions has been studied for 
improved lithium ion intercalation properties. For example, 
doping of Ag and Cu in vanadium oxides
9
 
has been reported to 
result in much improved electrochemical properties
 
of V
2
O
5
. 
 
 
Electrochromic materials are those which exhibit a reversible 
optical change between the transparent state and the colored 
state upon charging or discharging via electrochemical 
reactions. Variable transmittance windows (smart windows), 
display
 
devices, and controlled reflectance mirrors for vehicles 
are typical applications of this property, and the smart window 
is currently one of the most dynamic research areas. Vanadium 
pentoxide with a layered structure is promising for smart 
window applica
tions. However, the diffusion coefficient of Li 
ions in V
2
O
5
 
(10
−12
–
10
−13
 
cm
2
/s) and the electrical conductivity 
of V
2
O
5
 
(10
−2
–
10
−3
 
S/cm)
10
 
are both small and, thus the 
intercalation process is relatively slow. A large surface area and 
a short diffusion distance are desired to achieve faster 
intercalation and extractio
n kinetics. One effective way to 
achieve these properties is the use of one
-
dimensional 
nanostructures, such as nanowires, nanorods and nanotubes. 
Although various methods have been developed for the 
formation of nanorods or nanowires template
-
based synthe
sis is 
one of the most attractive fabrication methods as this approach 
provides unidirectionally aligned uniformly sized nanorod 
arrays
11
.
 
 
Importance of Vanadium Pentoxide
 
Vanadium oxides are the class of transition metal oxides with 
vanadium oxidation st
ates ranging between +2 to +5 in general. 
These oxide materials have most fascinating technological 
applications and academic interest. Vanadium oxides show 
different properties with various compositions. Electrical, 
Optical and Chemical properties of vana
dium oxides are 
different from other transition metal oxides and have significant 
applications in various fields. It is a low mobility semiconductor 
with predominantly n
-
type conductivity. Vanadium oxide in the 
form of thin film at small thickness show enh
anced properties as 
follows. Vanadium pentoxide is a good cathodic material and it 
hosts Li ions in its tetrahedral sites and it is quite suitable for 
insertion and deinsertion of Li ions. On intercalation mechanism 
of cations i.e inserting and deinserting
 
the cations it changes its 
color which is referred as electrochromism. When these oxides 
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69
 
are subjected to temperature which involves strong variations in 
optical transmittance, reflectance and emissivity. Upon exposure 
to several organic gases these oxide
s changes their color which 
is known as gasochromism, making possibility for sensing 
hydrogen in organic gases. Vanadium pentoxide is a good 
catalyst in several chemical reactions. For example in contact 
process for sulfuric acid preparation V
2
O
5
 
used as c
atalyst and 
also I thin film form it enhances the oxygenated 
dehydrogenation (ODH) reactions. These oxides are also 
capable of oxygen and 
pH
 
sensing and IR detection. These 
vanadium oxides show both p
-
type and n
-
type conductivity 
depending on substrate and
 
temperature.
 
 
Structure of Vanadium Pentoxide 
 
Vanadium oxide
, 
in general may refer to following main four 
types of oxides with +2, +3, +4 and +5 oxidation states 
respectively
.
 
i. 
Vanadium (II) oxide (vanadium monoxide), VO
, 
ii. 
Vanadium (III) oxide (vana
dium sesquioxide or trioxide), 
V
2
O
3
, 
iii.
 
Vanadium (IV) oxide (vanadium dioxide), VO
2
, 
iv.
 
Vanadium (V) oxide (vanadium pentoxide), V
2
O
5
 
 
In addition to these principal oxides of vanadium, various other 
distinct phases also exist as follows
: i. 
Phases with
 
the general 
formula V
n
O
2n+1 
where n = 2, 4, 6 exist between V
2
O
5
 
and VO
2
. 
Examples of these phases include V
3
O
7,
 
V
4
O
9 
and
 
V
6
O
13.
 
ii.
 
Phases with the general formula V
n
O
2n
-
1
 
where 2 ≤ n ≤ 8 exist 
between VO
2
 
and V
2
O
3
 
and are called Magneli phases, they are
 
examples of crystallographic shear compounds based on the 
rutile structure. Examples of Magneli phases include V
4
O
7
, 
V
5
O
9
, V
6
O
11
, V
7
O
13 
and V
8
O
15
.
 
iii. 
Other possible phase is 
V
n
O
2n
 
where n = 2 only.
 
 
Among the family of the vanadium oxides, vanadium pent
oxide 
is the most stable compound with highest oxygen concentration 
and it can be built from corner
-
sharing and edge
-
sharing VO
6
 
octahedra. V
2
O
5
 
crystallizes with an orthorhombic unit cell and 
belongs to P
mnm
 
space group with lattice parameter a = 11.510 
Å
, b = 3.563 Å, c = 4.369 Å, where the b and c are often inter 
changed. The stoichiometry of V
2
O
5 
is considered as deformed
 
octahedral VO
6
 
which serves as the building block of the V
2
O
5 
structure. The octahedral are irregular in V
2
O
5 
with five V
-
O 
distances
 
between 1.585 and 2.021Å and a sixth distance as 
large as 2.79Å. The deformed VO
6
 
octahedra from wrapped 
layers in which oxide anions are shared by adjacent octahedra. 
From this structure it is assumed that only weak vander wall’s 
type interaction exist b
etween the layers. Thus the crystal 
structure of V
2
O
5
 
is a layered structure (the layers are 4.4Å 
apart) with as easy cleavage along (001) plane.     
 
 
The molecular structures of surface vanadia species have been 
extensively investigated in the past few y
ears with many 
different spectroscopic methods: Raman, IR, XANES /EXAFS, 
solid state 51V NMR, UV
-
VIS DRS, chemi
-
luminescence, and 
ESR
12
. The local structure of V
2
O
5
 
supported on silica and 
-
alumina has been most intensively studied. In general, ESR and 
UV/
VIS results are consistent with each other, although ESR 
results are restricted to paramagnetic V
4+
 
containing species. On 
silica, vanadium atoms are generally stabilized in an oxygen 
tetrahedron in the dehydrated state. Hydrated silica supported 
V
2
O
5
 
most
ly exists in an octahedral configuration. On alumina, 
both ESR and UV/VIS studies demonstrated that vanadium is 
five
-
 
or six
-
fold co
-
ordinated by oxygen. However, Raman 
studies revealed the formation of different types of vanadium 
oxide species: polymeric 
arrays of octahedral VO
6 
units as the 
main phase and tetrahedral VO
4 
species as a minor constituent 
on both, silica and alumina. Figure 
-
1 shows Layered structure 
of vanadium pentoxide
13
.
 
 
Figure
-
1
 
Layered structure of Vanadium Pentoxide
 
 
Properties of Va
nadium Pentoxide
 
Vanadium pentoxide is an odorless, yellow
-
red, crystalline solid 
slightly soluble in water and soluble in acid. Its melting point is 
1274 degrees Fahrenheit, or 690 degrees Celsius. At 3182 
degrees Fahrenheit or 1750 degrees Celsius, vanad
ium 
pentoxide decomposes into other vanadium oxide compounds. 
The specific gravity of the compound is 3.36. As the source 
material for vanadium and the compound ferrovanadium, 
vanadium pentoxide finds use in the steel industry, chemical 
manufacturing and c
eramics. Vanadium pentoxide warrants 
special attention due to the toxicity of its fumes and dust 
particles. Inhalation or ingestion of vanadium pentoxide can be 
fatal and OSHA has established a ceiling exposure limit of 0.5 
milligrams of vanadium pentoxide
 
dust per cubic meter of air 
and a ceiling exposure limit of 0.1 milligram of vanadium 
pentoxide fume per cubic meter of air. The National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, recommends 0.05 
milligrams per cubic meter of air as a 15 min
ute ceiling for 
exposure to vanadium pentoxide dust or fume. A well
-
ventilated 
work area or fume hood, protective clothing and eye protection 
are needed whenever working with vanadium pentoxide and 
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70
 
respirators should be used when exposure limits cannot be 
effectively controlled.
 
 
Vanadium pentoxide is a typical intercalation compound as a 
result of its layered structure. Intercalation compounds are a 
special family of materials. The intercalation refers to the 
reversible intercalation of mobile guest specie
s (atoms, 
molecules, or ions) into a crystalline host lattice that contains an 
interconnected system of an empty lattice site of appropriate 
size, while the structural integrity of the host lattice is formally 
conserved. The intercalation reactions typical
ly occur around 
room temperature
14
. A variety of host lattice structures have 
been found to undergo such low
-
temperature reactions. 
However, the intercalation reactions involving layered host 
lattices have been most extensively studied, partly because of 
t
he structural flexibility and the ability to adapt to the geometry 
of the intercalated guest species by free adjustment of the 
interlayer separation. The readers are referred to a 
comprehensive and excellent article on inorganic intercalation 
compounds. De
spite the differences in chemical composition 
and lattice structure of the host sheets, all the layer hosts are 
characterized by strong interlayer covalent bonding and weak 
interlayer intercalations. The weak interlayer intercalations 
include vanderWaals f
orce or electrostatic attraction through 
oppositely charged species between two layers. Various host 
lattices are metal dichalcogenides, metal oxyhalides, metal 
phosphorus trisulfides, metal oxides, metal phosphates, 
hydrogen phosphates, phosphonates, and 
graphite and layered 
clay minerals. Guest materials include metal ions, organic 
molecules, and organometallic molecules. When guest species 
are incorporated into host lattices, various structural changes 
will take place. The principle geometrical transitio
ns of layered 
host lattice matrixes upon intercalation of guest species include 
i.
 
change in interlayer spacing, 
ii.
 
change in stacking mode of 
the layers, and 
iii.
 
formation of intermediate phases at low guest 
concentrations that may exhibit staging. Ther
e are various 
synthesis methods for the formation of intercalation 
compounds
15
. The most commonly used and simplest method is 
the direct reaction of the guest species with the host lattice. For 
direction reactions, the intercalation reagents must be good 
r
educing agents of the host crystals. Ion exchange is a method to 
replace the guest ion in an intercalation compound with another 
guest ion, which offers a useful route for intercalating large ions 
that do not directly intercalate. Appropriate chosen solven
ts or 
electrolytes may assist the ion exchange reactions by 
flocculating and reflocculating the host structure. Electro 
intercalation is yet another method, in which the host lattice 
serves as the cathode of an electrochemical cell. 
Electrochemical lithium
 
intercalation occurs together with 
compensating electrons leading to the formation of vanadium 
bronzes as follows:
 
 
V
2
O
5
 
+ xLi
+
 
+ xe
-
  
  
Li
x
V
2
O
5
 
Whittingham et al. have presented comprehensive reviews on 
lithium battery cathode materials including lithiu
m metal oxides 
and vanadium oxides. For Li
-
ion intercalation applications, 
vanadium pentoxide offers the essential advantages of low cost, 
abundant source, easy synthesis, and high energy densities
16
. 
Figure
-
2 represents the structure of the V
2
O
5
.H
2
O xerog
el 
(polyhedra and ball
-
stick model) as revealed by PDF analysis. 
Characteristic distances are shown in figure
-
2. Water molecules 
are round dots between the layers. Crystalline V
2
O
5
 
is an 
ordered assembly of single layers of V
2
O
5
. The V
2
O
5
.nH
2
O 
xerogel is a
 
stack of long ribbonlike slabs which are bilayers of 
single V
2
O
5
 
layers made up of square pyramidal VO
5
 
units, as 
shown in Figure
-
2. The closest distance between the bilayers is 
about 11.5 Å. When the xerogel intercalates or extracts guest 
species, this d
istance expands or contracts correspondingly. The 
distance between the two single sheets of V
2
O
5
 
making up the 
bilayer slab is approximately    2.90 Å. The coordination 
environment of V atoms in each bilayered slab can be taken as 
octahedral
17
. The VO
5
 
oct
ahedra share edges to from double 
chains propagating down the b axis. These double chains then 
arrange in parallel and side by side via interchain V
-
O bonds by 
sharing corners of octahedra to form the slab. Similarly, 
crystalline V
2
O
5
 
consists of monolayer
ed slabs composed of 
parallel double chains. On the basis of such one
-
dimensional 
chain based slab structure, needlelike crystal growth appears in 
crystalline V
2
O
5
 
and long nano ribbons are formed in the 
V
2
O
5
.nH
2
O xerogel
18
. Figure
-
3 presents the crystal s
tructure of 
V
2
O
5
. The apical V
-
O bond distance is much shorter than the 
four other distances and corresponds to a double bond. The 
layered structure of V
2
O
5
 
illustrates a two
-
dimensional character 
for this material; however, the structure of V
2
O
5
 
can be 
de
scribed as distorted VO
6
 
octahedral as well. The structural 
anisotropy of this material is illustrated by the very large length 
of the sixth V
-
O bond which gives rise to the ability to insert 
guest species in perovskite
-
like cavities
19
.
 
 
 
Figure
-
2
 
Structu
re of the V
2
O
5
.H
2
O xerogel (polyhedra and ball
-
stick 
model) as revealed by PDF analysis. Characteristic distances are 
shown. Water molecules are round dots between the layers
 
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-
2502
 
Vol. 
2
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), 
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-
73
, 
March
 
(201
3
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
          
 
          
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on
 
 
71
 
 
Figure
-
3
 
Crystal structure of V
2
O
5
 
consisting of layers of VO
5
 
square 
pyramids 
that share edges and corners with the apical V
-
O 
bond distance being much shorter than the four other 
distances and corresponding to a double bond
 
 
Nanostructured Vanadium Oxide
 
In order to fabricate oxide nanostructures of various 
dimensionalities and a h
igh degree of structural order it is 
essential to balance the thermodynamic and kinetic forces that 
drive the chemistry and the mass transport associated with the 
formation of the oxide layer, particularly when the metal of 
interest exhibits a large range 
of oxidation states, as does 
vanadium. The thermodynamic forces are given by the materials 
chosen and include the surface and interface energies of the 
metal (oxide) surface and the oxide
–
metal interface, whereas the 
kinetic effects can be adjusted by vary
ing the experimental 
deposition parameters, such as substrate temperature, oxygen 
pressure and evaporation rate
20
.
 
 
The vanadium oxide nanostructures considered in this article 
have been grown by physical vapour deposition (PVD) onto 
atomically clean Rh (1
11) single
-
crystal metal surfaces. Three 
different kinetic routes were used for the preparation of the 
nanostructures. In the reactive evaporation (RE) method 
vanadium metal was evaporated in an oxygen atmosphere (at 
typically p(O2) = 2×10
−
7
 
mbar) onto the clean metal substrate, 
kept at elevated temperature (up to
 
400â—¦C) to provide the 
mobility necessary to obtain a high degree of structural order in 
the oxide over layer. To prevent oxide reduction or 
decomposition following the vanadium de
position the sample 
was cooled down to room temperature in an oxygen atmosphere. 
In our studies vanadium was evaporated from an electron beam 
evaporator (Omicron) and the deposition rate was monitored by 
a quartz crystal microbalance; a rate of 0.2 monolay
er min
−1
 
was 
typically employed. The vanadium oxide coverage is given in 
monolayer equivalents (MLE), where 1 MLE contains the same 
number of vanadium atoms as one monolayer of Rh (111) 
atoms. Alternatively, the post
-
oxidation (PO) method was used, 
which consist
s of deposition of vanadium in ultra
-
high vacuum 
(UHV) onto the metal substrate, kept at room temperature to 
prevent a possible alloying with the vanadium metal. 
Subsequently the vanadium layer was oxidized by heating the 
sample in an oxygen atmosphere
21
. 
For the generation of 0D and 
1D oxide nanostructures a third technique, called post
-
deposition (PD), was employed, where the metal substrate is 
initially pre
-
covered by a layer of chemisorbed oxygen, the 
amount of which is known (for example, the O (2 × 1)
 
chemisorbed phase on Rh (111) contains 0.5 ML oxygen atoms) 
and these oxygen species serve as a reservoir for the subsequent 
oxidation of vanadium. Metallic vanadium is deposited onto this 
surface in UHV at room temperature and is followed by a flash 
to t
ypically 250
â—¦C to lower the reaction barrier for the vanadium 
oxidation. Variable
-
temperature scanning tunneling microscopy 
(STM) was the main instrumental tool for the characterization 
of the morphology and the atomic structure of the vanadium 
oxide nanostructures. T
he experiments were carried out in a 
custom
-
designed UHV system with a typical base pressure of 
5×10
−11
 
mbar, described elsewhere. To model the structure of 
the various low
-
dimensional vanadium oxide phases density 
functional theory (DFT) calculations were
 
performed using the 
Vienna initio simulation package (VASP), as described in more 
detail in
22
.
 
 
Vanadium pentoxide nanorod arrays have been grown inside 
200 nm diameter PC templates with the assistance of an electric 
field in three different media, i.e., 
a VO
2+
 
solution (route A), a 
VO
2+  
solution (route B), and a V
2
O
5
 
sol (route C). The pure 
orthorhombic phase of V
2
O
5
 
was obtained by sintering the 
nanorod arrays at 485°C in air for one hour, and the PC 
membrane was pyrolyzed as a result. It is worth notin
g that, 
under otherwise comparable growth conditions, the nanorods 
grown by electrochemical deposition showed negligible 
shrinkage, whereas those grown via a pH change showed a 
noticeable 15% lateral shrinkage; moreover, the nanorods grown 
from sol electro
phoretic deposition showed a substantial lateral 
shrinkage of 50%. Such significant differences in lateral 
shrinkage of the three nanorods upon firing can be explained by 
their distinctively different growth mechanisms
23
. 
 
 
Applications of Vanadium Pentoxi
de
 
Vanadium Pentoxide, one among the transition metal oxides, is 
an interesting material for scientific and technological 
applications. It is a low mobility semiconductor with 
predominantly n
-
 
type conductivity. V
2
O
5 
exhibits an 
orthorhombic layerd structu
re and can prepared in thin film 
form by a variety of deposition techniques. As a thin film, it 
Research Journal of 
Recent 
Sciences 
______
_
_
_______________________________
______________
_
________
 
ISSN 2277
-
2502
 
Vol. 
2
(
3
), 
67
-
73
, 
March
 
(201
3
)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
          
 
          
Res. J. Recent Sci.
 
  
 
International Science Congress Associati
on
 
 
72
 
exhibits multi colored electrochromism and has high potential 
for use in electrochromic display devices, color filters and other 
optical devices. Bulk and thin 
film V
2
O
5
 
with vandal oxygen 
vacancies have been used as an oxidation catalyst. As a 
functional inorganic material, V
2
O
5
 
can be used in gas sensors 
and elctrochromic cells. High values of its electrochemical 
potential difference with lithium and its specif
ic energy density 
made it suitable as a cathode material in solid state lithium
 
microbatteries.  
 
 
Recent applications of V
2
O
5 
thin films are as follows:
 
i. 
Vanadium pentoxide is a good catalyst in several chemical 
reactions. For example in contact process
 
for sulfuric acid 
preparation, V
2
O
5
 
used as catalyst and also in thin film form it 
enhances the oxygenated and dehydrogenated reactions.
 
ii. 
These oxide films are utilized as oxygen and
 
p
H sensors and IR 
detectors.
 
iii. 
These vanadium oxides are used to d
evelop both 
p
-
type and n
-
type semiconductors depending on substrate and 
temperature.
 
iv. 
Vanadium oxides are used as optical switching 
devices, for example at high temperatures VO
2
 
is opaque to 
infrared regions.
 
v. 
These sensors are good hydrogen sensors 
d
epending on the gasochromism property for sensing hydrogen 
in organic gases.
 
vi. 
Vanadium Oxide is a good cathodic 
material for solid state micro batteries as thin layer. For example 
Li ion micro battery.  
 
 
In metallurgy, vanadium pentoxide is used to pro
duce 
ferrovanadium, which increases the strength of steel. The 
strength of these vanadium alloys and their resistance to 
corrosion lends their application to the production of 
automobiles, tools and engines. Vanadium plays a critical role 
in the titanium a
lloys used in the aerospace industry. Vanadium 
pentoxide finds use in the chemical industry as a catalyst for the 
production of sulfuric acid and other chemicals, insecticides and 
photographic chemicals
24
. Due to its high coefficient of thermal 
resistance,
 
vanadium (V) oxide finds use as a detector material 
in
 
bolometers
 
and
 
micro bolometer
 
arrays for
 
thermal 
imaging
25
. It also finds application as an ethanol sensor in ppm 
levels (up to 0.1
 
ppm). 
Maleic anh
ydride
 
is another important 
industrial material, used for the manufacture of
 
polyester
 
resins 
and
 
alkyd resins
. Vanadium (V) oxide can catalyze its 
production from a variety of organic starting materials such 
as
 
n
-
butane
,
 
furfural
 
and
 
benzene
, the last of which is the usual 
commercial method. In a related process,
 
phthalic anhydride
, 
used for making
 
plasticizers
 
for
 
PVC
 
manufacture, may be 
produced by V
2
O
5
 
catalyzed oxidation of
 
ortho
-
xylene
 
or
 
naphthalene
 
at 350
–
400
 
°C
26
-
28
. 
 
 
Conclusion
 
Vanadium Pentoxide, one among the transition metal oxides, is 
an interesting material for scientific and 
technological 
applications. It is a low mobility semiconductor with 
predominantly n
-
 
type conductivity. V
2
O
5 
exhibits an 
orthorhombic layerd structure and can prepared in thin film 
form by a variety of deposition techniques. As a thin film, it 
exhibits mul
ti colored electrochromism and has high potential 
for use in electrochromic display devices, color filters and other 
optical devices. Bulk and thin film V
2
O
5
 
with vandal oxygen 
vacancies have been used as an oxidation catalyst. Vanadium 
pentoxide with a la
yered structure is promising for smart 
window applications. V
2
O
5
 
crystallizes with an orthorhombic 
unit cell and belongs to P
mnm
 
space group with lattice parameter 
a = 11.510 Å, b = 3.563 Å, c = 4.369 Å, where the b and c are 
often interchanged. The stoich
iometry of V
2
O
5 
is considered as 
deformed
 
octahedral VO
6
 
which serves as the building block of 
the V
2
O
5 
structure. As a thin film, it exhibits multi colored 
electrochromism and has high potential for use in 
electrochromic display devices, color filters and
 
other optical 
devices. Bulk and thin film V
2
O
5
 
with vandal oxygen vacancies 
have been used as an oxidation catalyst. In this paper the 
detailed technological aspects of properties, different structures 
of V
2
O
5
 
as candidate cathode material for the fabrica
tion of all 
solid state lithium ion batteries with wide applications of V
2
O
5 
films as electrochromic cells and gas sensors are reported. 
 
 
Acknowledgements
 
The Author (M. C. Rao) is thankful to UGC for providing the 
financial assistance through Major Resea
rch Project (Link No. 
F.No. 40
-
24/2011(SR))
 
 
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