Controlling self-assembled perovskite-spinel nanostructures.

Zheng, Haimei; Zhan, Qian; Zavaliche, Florin; Sherburne, Matt; Straub, Florian; Cruz, Maria P; Chen, Long-Qing; Dahmen, Uli et al. · Nano Lett · 2006

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report a discovery that self-assembled perovskite-spinel nanostructures can be controlled simply by selecting single-crystal substrates with different orientations. In a model BiFeO(3)-CoFe(2)O(4) system, a (001) substrate results in rectangular-shaped CoFe(2)O(4) nanopillars in a BiFeO(3) matrix; in contrast, a (111) substrate leads to triangular-shaped BiFeO(3) nanopillars in a CoFe(2)O(4) matrix, irrespective of the volume fraction of the two phases. This dramatic reversal is attributed to the surface energy anisotropy as an intrinsic property of a crystal.

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