Synthesis and electrochromic property of single-crystalline V2O5 nanorod arrays by template based deposition

Growth and electrochemical and optical properties of single crystalline vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanorod arrays were investigated. Vanadium pentoxide nanorod arrays were grown by electrochemical deposition, surface condensation induced by a pH change and sol electrophoretic deposition. Uniformly sized vanadium oxide nanorods with a length of about 10 mum and diameters of 100 or 200nm were grown over a large area with near unidirectional alignment. TEM micrographs and electron diffraction patterns of V2O5 nanorods clearly show the single-crystal line nature of nanorods from all three growth routes with a growth direction of [010]. The growth mechanisms of single crystal vanadium pentoxide nanorods have been discussed. The transmittance of nanorod arrays decrease more quickly under applied electric field than sol-gel derived film, which suggests nanorod array electrodes possess significantly improved charge/discharge rate. Electrochemical analysis is proves that nanorod arrays have higher efficiency than sol-gel derived film. The relationships between electrochemical and optical properties, nano and microstructures, and growth mechanisms have been discussed.