Journal of Solid State Chemistry 178 (2005) 2152–2158 Rapid communication Synthesis and characterization of vanadium oxides nanorods Sorapong Pavasupree a , Yoshikazu Suzuki a , Athapol Kitiyanan a , Sommai Pivsa-Art b , Susumu Yoshikawa a,Ã a Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan b Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala Institute of Technology, Klong 6, Pathumthani 12110, Thailand Received 30 December 2004; received in revised form 3 March 2005; accepted 10 March 2005 Available online 25 April 2005 Abstract Vanadium oxides nanorods with high crystallinity and high surface area were synthesized by hydrothermal method using laurylamine hydrochloride, metal alkoxide and acetylacetone. The samples characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption isotherm, SEM, TEM, and SAED. Uniformly sized B phase VO 2 nanorods had widths about 40–80 nm and lengths reaching up to 1 mm. V 2 O 5 rodlike structured with the widths about 100–500 nm and the lengths of 1–10 mm were obtained by calcination at 400 1C for 4 h. This synthesis method provides a new simple route to fabricate one-dimensional nanostructured metal oxides under mild conditions. r 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Vanadium oxides; Nanorods; Nanowires; Characterization; Mild conditions 1. Introduction The synthesis and characterization of one-dimen- sional (1-D) nanostructured (nanotubes, nanowires, and nanorods) have received considerable attention due to their unique properties and novel application [1–5]. Much effort has concentrated on the important metal oxides such as TiO 2 , SnO 2 , WO 3 , ZnO, and ZrO 2 . Among them vanadium oxides are especially interesting since they are widely used for various applications like electrochemical device and catalysis [6–8]. Their func- tional properties are influenced by many factors such as crystallinity, surface area, and preparation methods [6–13]. A large number of vanadium oxides nanotubes were successfully synthesized via a sol–gel reaction followed by hydrothermal treatment [10–13]. Important progress was achieved in producing nanofibers and nanotubes of vanadium oxides using carbon nanotubes as template [14,15]. Owing to high cost of carbon nanotubes, the use of titanate nanotubes as template via hydrothermal synthesis (200 1C) was investigated; how- ever, the products were composite of vanadium oxide and titanate nanorods [16].V 2 O 5 nanorods from VOSO 4 aqueous solution using template-based electrodeposition were also successfully synthesized [17]. In our previous works, mesoporous metal oxides nanopowders with controlled pore size (3–6nm) were synthesized by a modified sol–gel method in aqueous phase using a surfactant assisted process under mild conditions, offering a high photocatalytic activity [18–20]. This process has also been applied to a semiconductive material in dye-sensitized solar cells and hydrogen evolution [21–26]. In this study, the surfactant-assisted process has been expanded to prepare nanostructured vadadium oxides by hydrothermal method. The characteristic of the prepared nanopowders will be reported. ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jssc 0022-4596/$-see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jssc.2005.03.034 Ã Corresponding author. Fax: +81774383508. E-mail addresses: sorapong@iae.kyoto-u.ac.jp (S. Pavasupree), s-yoshi@iae.kyoto-u.ac.jp (S. Yoshikawa).