Structural and optical properties of vanadium pentoxide sol–gel films

The V2O5 films were obtained using sol–gel procedure. The composition and mesostructure of the layers were investigated with the UV and Raman spectroscopy, as well as with electron microscopy. We showed that the changes in the properties of thin layers accompanying the variation of film thickness are connected with the changes in the microstructure of the film rather than with changes in its composition. The thin V2O5 layers obtained in the present study are composed of disordered clusters; their mean size is 4–13 nm.