Effect of surface roughness on nucleation and growth of vanadium pentoxide nanowires

► The effect of surface roughness on subsequent growth of V2O5 nanowire is examined. ► The control of surface roughness and etching conditions is shown to provide an effective method for increasing the density of nucleation sites. ► The obtained V2O5 nanowires are orthorhombic structure with high aspect ratio and large number density. ► PL results show intense visible emission, which is attributed to different inter-band transitions between the V 3d and O 2p band.