Research progress of metal-insulator phase transition mechanism in VO2

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VO2 is a metal oxide that has a thermally-induced phase-transition. In the vicinity of 341 K, VO2 undergoes a reversible transition from the high-temperature metal phase to the low-temperature insulator phase. Associated with the metal-insulator transition (MIT), there are drastic changes in its optical, electrical and magnetic characteristics. These make VO2 an attractive material for various applications, such as optical and/or electrical switches, smart glass, storage media, etc. Thus, the reversible metal-insulator phase transition in VO2 has long been a research hotspot. However, the metal-insulator transition mechanism in VO2 has been a subject of debate for several decades, and yet there is no unified explanation. This paper first describes changes of the crystal structure and the energy band structure during VO2 phase transition. With regard to the crystal structure, VO2 transforms from the low-temperature monoclinic phase VO2(M) into the high-temperature stable rutile phase VO2(R), and in some special cases, this phase transition process may also involve a metastable monoclinic VO2(B) phase and a tetragonal VO2(A) phase. In respect of the energy band structure, VO2 undergoes a transition from the low-temperature insulator phase into a high-temperature metal phase. In the band structure of low-temperature monoclinic phase, there is a band gap of about 0.7 eV between d// and * bands, and the Fermi level falls exactly into the band gap, which makes VO2 electronically insulating. In the band structure of high-temperature rutile phase, the Fermi level falls into the overlapping portion of the * and d// bands, which makes VO2 electronically metallic. Next, this paper summarizes the current research status of the physical mechanism underlying the VO2 MIT. Three kinds of theoretical perspectives, supported by corresponding experimental results, have been proposed so far, which includes electron-correlation-driven MIT, Peierls-like structure-driven MIT, and MIT driven by the interplay of both electron-correlation and Peierls-like structural phase transition. It is noted that recent reports mostly focus on the controversywhether VO2 is a Mott insulator, and whether the structural phase transition and the MIT accurately occur simultaneously in VO2. Finally, the paper points out the near-future development direction of the VO2 research.