title: Role of defects in the phase transition of VO2 nanoparticles probed by plasmon resonance spectroscopy.
abstract: Defects are known to affect nanoscale phase transitions, but their specific role in the metal-to-insulator transition in VO(2) has remained elusive. By combining plasmon resonance nanospectroscopy with density functional calculations, we correlate decreased phase-transition energy with oxygen vacancies created by strain at grain boundaries. By measuring the degree of metallization in the lithographically defined VO(2) nanoparticles, we find that hysteresis width narrows with increasing size, thus illustrating the potential for domain boundary engineering in phase-changing nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Program in Materials Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37235-0106, USA. krishenappavoo@gmail.com
authors.forename: Kannatassen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Appavoo
authors.forename: Dang Yuan
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sonnefraud
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sokrates T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Pantelides
authors.forename: Stefan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Richard F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Haglund