Vanadium oxide / n-amine nanotubes: a morphological and structural characterization

M. E. SALETA; M. GRANADA; H. E. TROIANI; R. D. SÁNCHEZ; M. MALTA; R. M. TORRESI

Rosario, Argentina

Congreso; 10th Inter-American Congress on Electron Microscopy; 2009

CIASEM

Oxide nanotubes (NT’s) have been the subject of a very active research due to their physicochemical properties, which have promising technological applications. One of these systems is vanadium oxide (VOx) NT’s, which have potential applications in catalysis and Li-ion batteries.In VOx NT’s, the walls are constituted by alternated layers of VOx and surfactant. The surfactant acts as template, providing support and hardness to the structure. The layers of VOx are constituted by V ions in two oxidation states (4+ and 5+). The V4+ induces the rolling up of the VOx layers, forming the NT.We have synthesized VOx NT’s by the Sol-Gel method followed by hydrothermal treatment.We used different primary amines as surfactant. The structure of the samples was characterized by X-Ray diffraction. The morphology of the samples was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. The images confirm that the samples are multiwall NT’s and the analysis of the high resolution images shows that the oxide layers are formed by nanometric particles.The magnetic characterization was performed by EPR and dc-susceptibility; these techniquesallow quantifying the percentage of V4+ present in the NT’s. This amount is critical in theirapplication as a cathode of Li-batteries.