Production and Identification of Vanadium Oxide Nanotubes

In this research, vanadium oxide nanotubes had been synthesized via gelation of V2O5 and ethanol as solvent followed by hydrothermal treatment for one (1) to seven (7) days at 180ºC. The main objective of the study was to produce good quality VOX-NTS at a fastest synthesis. The products obtained were characterized for their morphology and structure in the nanotubes using SEM, TEM, XRD. TG and FT-IR analyses were also used. As exposed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images, well-developed vanadium oxide nanotubes using hexadecylamine template can be obtained even with just two days duration of hydrothermal treatment, the shortest time achieved yet and reported for the synthesis of VOx. X- ray diffraction patterns showed the low angle reflection peaks which are characteristic for the well-ordered layered structure of the nanotubes. SEM and TEM images also, interestingly, revealed and verified the speculated rolling-up formation mechanism of the vanadium oxide nanotubes. Hence, in this research study, the gelation of the V2O5 and the use of ethanol as a solvent instead of acetone had circumvented the problem of longer duration time of hydrothermal treatment leading to a fast synthesis of VOX-NTS.