Abstract
The metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) closest to room temperature of 68–70 °C as shown by vanadium oxide (VO2), compared with other transition metal oxides, makes it a potential candidate for smart window coating. We have successfully fabricated a potential smart window device after the optimum design of a multilayered thin film structure made out of transparent conducting oxide (aluminum doped zinc oxide) and pure VO2 using pulsed laser deposition technique. This comprehensive study is based on two different configurations for multi-layered structure approach, with the intention to reduce the transition temperature, as well as to maintain the MIT properties that would strengthen the potential of the structure to be used for a smart window device. By creating a multi-layered structure, we were able to create a low powered device that can operate less than 15 V that leads to significant decline in the infrared transmission by a magnitude of over 40% and provided sufficient heat to trigger the MIT at a temperature around 60 °C, which is almost 10 °C lower than its bulk counterpart. This finding would positively impact the research on VO2 thin films, not only as smart windows but also for numerous other applications like bolometers, infrared detectors, Mott transistors and many more.
Highlights
Energy in today’s world is the most crucial problem humanity is going to face by the year 2050
We report a reduction in the transition temperature of the VO2 thin films with a marginal degradation to the other metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) properties
The annealed film displaying a MIT property was found to have a transition temperature of ~67 °C, similar to the theoretical MIT temperature seen in bulk VO2 thin films
Summary
Energy in today’s world is the most crucial problem humanity is going to face by the year 2050. PLD stands out as technique of choice because of the ability to control parameters such as substrate temperature and oxygen partial pressure precisely, which makes it suitable to grow a metastable material such as VO219–29 Another problem, associated with even the most recent advancements, includes the MIT properties of the film itself. It has been found that, using several methods, while lowering the transition temperature this is accompanied with a degradation in other MIT parameters which makes it unsuitable to be used frequently for certain applications Another issue that exists with VO2, for practical applications, lies in its optical properties, having a low visible range transmittance (~40–45%). We report a novel structural approach of multi-layered device using Al:ZnO thin films as a resistive heater layer to provide the additional temperature needed to trigger the MIT by applying a very low voltage[32,33]
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