Electromechanical Actuation and Current-Induced Metastable States in Suspended Single-Crystalline VO2 Nanoplatelets

Current-induced electromechanical actuation enabled by the metal–insulator transition in VO2 nanoplatelets is demonstrated. The Joule heating by a sufficient current flowing through suspended nanoplatelets results in formation of heterophase domain patterns and is accompanied by nanoplatelet deformation. The actuation action can be achieved in a wide temperature range below the bulk phase transition temperature (68 °C). The observed current-sustained heterophase domain structures should be interpreted as distinct metastable states in free-standing and end-clamped VO2 samples. We analyze the main prerequisites for the realization of a current-controlled actuator based on the proposed concept.