Vanadium dioxide (VO₂) has emerged as a promising micro-actuator material for its large amplitude and high work density across the transition between the insulating (M1 and M2) and metallic (R) phase. Even though M2–R transition offers about 70% higher transformation stress than M1–R structural phase transition, the application of the M2 phase in the micro-actuators is hindered by the fact that previously, M2 phase can only stay stable under tensile stress. In this work, we propose and verify that by synthesizing the VO₂ nanowires under optimized oxygen-rich conditions, stoichiometry change can be introduced into the nanowires (NWs) which in turn yield a large number free-standing single-crystalline M2-phase NWs stable at room temperature. In addition, we demonstrate that the output stress of the M2-phase NWs is about 65% higher than that of the M1-phase NWs during their transition to R phase, quite close to the theoretical prediction. Our findings open new avenues towards enhancing the performance of VO₂-based actuators by using M2–R transition.

Using nanoscale electrical-discharge-induced rapid Joule heating, we developed a method for ultrafast shape change and joining of small-volume materials. Shape change is dominated by surface-tension-driven convection in the transient liquid melt, giving an extremely high strain rate of ~10⁶ s^–1. In addition, the heat can be dissipated in small volumes within a few microseconds through thermal conduction, quenching the melt back to the solid state with cooling rates up to 10⁸ K·s^-1. We demonstrate that this approach can be utilized for the ultrafast welding of small-volume crystalline Mo (a refractory metal) and amorphous Cu₄₉Zr₅₁ without introducing obvious microstructural changes, distinguishing the process from bulk welding.