Microstructure and Oxidation Behavior of Metal V Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Direct-current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) was applied to prepare vanadium (V) films on Si substrate. The influence of substrate temperature (Ts) and target–substrate distance (Dt–s) on phase structure and surface morphology of V films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the crystallinity of the V films increases with increasing Ts and decreasing Dt–s. The film deposited at Ts = 400 °C and Dt–s = 60 mm exhibits the best crystallinity and <111> preferred orientation with a regular tetrahedral surface morphology. Oxidation behavior of the V thin films has also been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Bias-induced surface reconstruction of a MOF-derived bimetallic (Co & V) oxide as an electrocatalyst for water oxidation

“…51 The V 2p deconvoluted spectrum depicts the complete loss of V 3+ and V 5+ appearing at 517.72 and 525.15 eV for V 2p 3/2 and V 2p 1/2 ; similarly, the peaks of V 4+ appear at 517.02 and 523.7 eV for V 2p 3/2 and V 2p 1/2 , respectively. 52 This suggests the oxidation of both cobalt and vanadium, further supporting the leaching of vanadium oxides. Thus, the bias-induced oxidation of cobalt and vanadium, and the leaching of unreactive vanadium oxide along with the loss of vanadium from Co 2 VO 4 leads to the formation of CoOOH with rich defects, which is believed to be the key active intermediate for the oxidation of water.…”