Vanadium pentoxide films were prepared by an inorganic sol-gel method. Opti
cal absorption study of V2O5 yielded a direct band gap of 2.4 eV. The tempe
rature coefficient of resistance, beta(tau) was 2% K-1 which indicated that
V2O5, could be used as a resistor. The thermoelectric power showed n-type
semi-conduction. Thr small changes in the Seebeck coefficient indicated sui
tability as a thermistor. The activation energies calculated from the first
heating-cooling cycle, were 0.1 and 0.37 eV, which indicated two types of
conduction. X-Ray diffraction of V2O5 films showed the three characteristic
peaks at 'd' spacing of 0.34, 0.27 and 0.217 nm. Annealing at 573 and 673
K improved the crystallinity of the films and decreased the localized state
s in the band gap. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights r
eserved.