Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and observation of massive metal-insulator transitions in nanowires of a nonstoichiometric vanadium oxide bronze

Metal-insulator transitions in strongly correlated materials, induced by varying either temperature or dopant concentration, remain a topic of enduring interest in solid-state chemistry and physics owing to their fundamental importance in answering longstanding questions regarding correlation effects. We note here the unprecedented observation of a four-orders-of-magnitude metal-insulator transition in single nanowires of δ-K_xV ₂O₅, when temperature is varied, which thus represents a rare new addition to the pantheon of materials exhibiting pronounced metal-insulator transitions in proximity to room temperature.