Electrically driven metal-insulator switching in δ-KxV2O5 nanowires

Metal-insulator transition (MIT) in delta-KxV2O5 nanowires is studied via tuning temperature, voltage, and current. In the temperature-driven case, a massive drop in resistance over similar to 4 orders of magnitude at similar to 380 K is reported [C. J. Patridge et al., Nano Lett. 10, 2448 (2010)]. Our observation of electrically driven MIT results from a systematic study in any delta-MxV2O5 system (M is the intercalation ion). In the voltage-driven case, the threshold voltage follows an exponential relation with temperature. In the current-driven case, a negative differential resistance region is observed. These results suggest that delta-KxV2O5 is an interesting oxide system exhibiting strong electrically driven MIT and will hence be useful in several switching applications. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757571]