The field of transition metal oxides represents an exciting and rapidly expanding research area that spans the border between the physical and engineering sciences. Molybdenum oxides (MoO_x) are one of the most attractive metal oxides due to their special structural characteristics. MoO_x comprises two simple binary oxides, namely, MoO₃ and MoO₂. MoO₃ has several polymorphs, such as the thermodynamically stable α-MoO₃ (space group Pnma), metastable β-MoO₃ (P2₁/c), -MoO₃ (P2₁/m), and hexagonal metastable h-MoO₃ (P6₃/m). MoO₂, with its distorted rutile structure, is an unusual but interesting transition metal oxide because of its low metallic electrical resistivity (8.8 × 10⁻⁵ Ω·cm at 300 K in bulk samples), high melting point, and high chemical stability.

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Materials Today (2011) 14(7-8), 346-353
doi: 10.1016/S1369-7021(11)70165-1