Hydrothermal synthesis of vanadium oxide nanotubes from oxide precursors

Vanadium oxide nanotubes were synthesized as the main product by a direct hydrothermal treatment of oxide precursors and long chain amines as structure-directing templates. The morphology and structure of nanotubes was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and thermal analysis. Nanotubes of high aspect ratio with layered structures were found to grow together in the form of bundles. The paper also discusses the chemistry issues involved in synthesizing nanostructured vanadium oxides.