Photoemission evidence for crossover from Peierls-like to Mott-like   transition in highly strained VO$_2$
  We present a spectroscopic study that reveals that the metal-insulator transition of strained VO$_2$ thin films may be driven towards a purely electronic transition, which does not rely on the Peierls dimerization, by the application of mechanical strain. Comparison with a moderately strained system, which does involve the lattice, demonstrates the crossover from Peierls- to Mott-like transitions. 
J. Laverock, and A. R. H. Preston, and D. Newby Jr, and K. E. Smith,   and S. Sallis, and L. F. J. Piper, and S. Kittiwatana...
cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.mes-hall