Structural and thermoelectric power properties of Na-doped V2O5·nH2O nanocrystalline thin films

•We prepare Vanadium pentoxide sol gel thin films.•The thermoelectric power decreased with increasing Na+1 content.•The electrical conductivity increased with increasing Na+1 content.•We conclude that this film is a good candidate for ink-jet deposition.

X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermoelectric power (S) and at room temperature electrical conductivity (σ) of Na+1-doped V2O5·nH2O nanocrystalline thin films fabricated by sol gel technique (colloid route) were studied. XRD showed that the Na2O–V2O5·nH2O thin films are highly oriented nanocrystals. The average value of particle size was found to be about 7.5 nm. The thermoelectric power showed that the thermoelectric power for all present nanocrystalline thin films samples decreased with increasing Na+1 content. However, the electrical conductivity increased with increasing Na+1 content. There is evidence that small polarons are responsible for determining the transport properties of the Na+1 doped V2O5·nH2O nanocrystalline thin films samples. The high value of electrical conductivity and small value of thermoelectric power is ideal for device applications, where device to device variation of the thermoelectric power must be small. This preparation technique was demonstrated to fabricate high quality Na2O–V2O5·nH2O nanocrystalline thin films for thermoelectric device applications. However, this may be further used for deposition with an ink-jet printer.