Electrochromic behavior of vanadium oxide nanostructures synthesized by melt sonoquenching

Abstract

This paper reports a new procedure for V2O5 synthesis using the combination of two traditional methods, melt quenching and sonochemistry, called melt sonoquenching. The resulting nanomaterial was characterized by several methods in order to verify physical and chemical characteristics, and its possible use as electrochromic electrode material. Scanning electron micrographs revealed V2O5 nanofibers with lengths varying from 140 to 160 nm, and diameters varying from 10 to 15 nm, X-ray diffraction experiments pointed to an amorphous structure with an interlamellar spacing of 13.3 Å. Chemical composition was estimated by TGA, suggesting that the composition for such xerogel oxide was V2O5.1.8H2O. Besides these, spectroelectrochemical characterization showed a transmittance variation of 45 % at 410 nm, with coloration persistence of 91.3 %, response times for the oxidation and reduction were, respectively, 1 s and 3.5 s, being such electrochomic efficiency of 55 cm2C-1 in throughout 100 cycles of color changes from blue-green-orange.