Vanadium oxide nanostructures: from zero- to three-dimensional

Abstract

Oxide structures with nanometric dimensions exhibit novel physical and chemicalproperties, with respect to bulk oxide materials, due to the spatial confinement and theproximity of the substrate. They derive their atomic structure and morphology, on the onehand, from the interactions at the interface between the oxide overlayer and the substrateand, on the other hand, from kinetic constraints during the growth process. Here wedescribe the formation of vanadium oxide nanostructures on a single-crystal metalsurface and their characterization by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and abinitio density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that vanadiumoxide nanostructures can be formed on Rh(111) with morphologies ranging fromquasi-zero- to three-dimensional and that the oxide growth can be tuned intoa particular dimensionality by careful adjustment of experimental parameters.These ‘artificial oxide phases’ display new physical and chemical properties, whichmake them potentially interesting materials for nanotechnology applications.