Thermal activation of charge carriers in ionic and electronic semiconductor β-AgVO and β-AgVO@V V O composite xerogels.

Silver vanadium oxide (SVO) and Silver Vanadium Oxide/Vanadium Oxide (SVO@VO) composite hydrogels are formed from the self-entanglement of β-AgVO nanoribbons and slightly reduced vanadium oxide (VO) (V V O) nanoribbons; respectively. Starting from randomly distributed nanoribbons within hydrogels, and after a controlled drying process, a homogeneous xerogel system containing tuneable SVO : VO ratios from 1 : 0 to 1 : 1 can be obtained. The precise nanoribbons compositional control of these composite system can serve as a tool to tune the electrical properties of the xerogels, as it has been demonstrated in this work by impedance spectroscopy (IS) experiments. Indeed, depending on the composition and temperature conditions, composite xerogels can behave as electronic, protonic or high temperature ionic conductors. In addition, the electric and protonic conductivity of the composite xerogels can be enhanced (until a critical irreversible point), through the temperature triggered charge carrier creation. As concluded from thermogravimetry, IR, UV-Vis and EPR spectroscopy studies, besides the SVO : VO ratio, the thermal induced oxidation/reduction of V to V, and thermally triggered release of strongly bonded water molecules at the nanoribbon surface are the two key variables that control the electric and ionic conduction processes within the SVO and composite SVO/VO xerogels.