Vanadium Oxides for Energy and Security Applications

Vanadium oxides have been the active area of research for decades and new possibilities are being revealed day by day due to their well established, yet controversially explained, phenomenon of Insulator Metal phase Transition (IMT). In this study, we have summarized potential solutions to the challenges in the fields of energy, environmental protection, defense and security that are being faced by the world. These challenges include security of energy supply, increasing demand of expensive energy, energy shortage and exploration of new source of energy and minerals, resolving fluctuating energy cost, CO₂ emission associated with energy consumption, climate change, and potential threat regarding the security of people and t h e country. The role of vanadium oxides in smart materials, their working principle and mechanism, methods for enhancing their performances, parameters controlling their efficiency, spectral range for optimum performance and source of operations have been described. The complicacy of thermal detectors and the use of vanadium oxides as sensing elements in such detectors have been explained and practical examples are presented. The performance parameters of a bolometer detector are illustrated from the data available in the literature. Use of vanadium oxides as a sensing element in stable, high TCR (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance) bolometer operating at room temperature in the flat spectral range without any cooling mechanism has been described and the importance of passivation characteristics, good IR (Infra Red) absorption characteristics and fabrication compatibility of vanadium oxides to modern technology has been highlighted. Recent progress in the dynamic tuning of metamaterials achieved by blending the properties of the VO₂ film during the IMT is described.