Light-assisted oriented attachment process for ultrathin vanadium pentoxide nanosheets with intensive room-temperature photoluminescence emission

An ultrathin vanadium pentoxide nanosheets colloid has been synthesized using peroxovanadium coordination compound (PVC) as a precursor through a simple, light-assisted aqueous-phase synthetic strategy. The μ-chelated triangle structured radicals, obtained by selective decomposition of the PVC precursor under UV irradiation, can limit the condensation process proceeding only within the ab plane, leading to a planar nanopieces intermediate in the initial stage of the refluxing reaction. Ultrathin vanadium pentoxide nanosheets were then formed through the oriented attachment processes of the initially formed small vanadium oxide nanopieces. The as-synthesized vanadium pentoxide nanosheets exhibited an unusual room-temperature photoluminescence emission, which can be attributed to the quantum size effect associated with their ultrathin thickness.