Chemical synthesis of complex oxide thin films and freestanding membranes

Oxides offer unique physical and chemical properties that inspire rapid advances in materials chemistry to design and nanoengineer materials compositions and implement them in devices for a myriad of applications. Chemical deposition methods are gaining attention as a versatile approach to develop complex oxide thin films and nanostructures by properly selecting compatible chemical precursors and designing an accurate cost-effective thermal treatment. Here, upon describing the basics of chemical solution deposition (CSD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), some examples of the growth of chemically-deposited functional complex oxide films that can have applications in energy and electronics are discussed. To go one step further, the suitability of these techniques is presented to prepare freestanding complex oxides which can notably broaden their applications. Finally, perspectives on the use of chemical methods to prepare future materials are given.

Increasing the structural and compositional diversity of ion-track templated 1D nanostructures through multistep etching, plastic deformation, and deposition

Ion-track etching represents a highly versatile way of introducing artificial pores with diameters down into the nm-regime into polymers, which offers considerable synthetic flexibility in template-assisted nanofabrication schemes. While the mechanistic foundations of ion-track technology are well understood, its potential for creating structurally and compositionally complex nano-architectures is far from being fully tapped. In this study, we showcase different strategies to expand the synthetic repertoire of ion-track membrane templating by creating several new 1D nanostructures, namely metal nanotubes of elliptical cross-section, funnel-shaped nanotubes optionally overcoated with titania or nickel nanospike layers, and concentrical as well as stacked metal nanotube-nanowire heterostructures. These nano-architectures are obtained solely by applying different wet-chemical deposition methods (electroless plating, electrodeposition, and chemical bath deposition) to ion-track etched polycarbonate templates, whose pore geometry is modified through plastic deformation, consecutive etching steps under differing conditions, and etching steps intermitted by spatially confined deposition, providing new motifs for nanoscale replication.

Spontaneous Rippling and Subsequent Polymer Molding on Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (110) Surfaces

Spontaneous nanoripple formation on (110) surfaces of yttria-stabilized zirconia, YSZ-(110), is achieved by diffusional surface doping with rare-earth oxides. Periodic arrays of parallel nanobars separated by channels (period ∼100 nm) grow out of the dopant sources, covering relatively wide areas of the surface (∼10 μm). The nanobars mound up on the surface by diffusion, exhibiting morphological uniformity and alignment, with their long axis lying parallel to the [11̅0] direction in the YSZ-(110) surface. The process for forming these nanobar arrays can be as simple as sprinkling of rare-earth oxide powder (dopant source) on YSZ-(110) surface and annealing in a high temperature air furnace. However, higher control on dopant dispersion on the surface is demonstrated with other techniques, including photolithography and inkjet printing. The ripple arrays extend anisotropically on the (110) surface, obeying the parabolic growth law, and showing principal values of the rate constant along [11̅0] (maximum) and [001] (minimum), as expected from the symmetry of the (110) surface. The self-patterned ceramic substrates are well-suited for pattern transfer by replica molding, as illustrated by single-step molding with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is a widely used biomaterial in cell-culture studies.

Orientation symmetry breaking in self-assembled Ce1−xGdxO2−ynanowires derived from chemical solutions

A novel approach to perform an independent study of the nucleation and coarsening of Ce_0.9Gd_0.1O_2−ynanowires is presented.

Mesoscopically structured nanocrystalline metal oxide thin films

This review describes the main successful strategies that are used to grow mesostructured nanocrystalline metal oxide and SiO₂ films via deposition of sol-gel derived solutions. In addition to the typical physicochemical forces to be considered during crystallization, mesoporous thin films are also affected by the substrate-film relationship and the mesostructure. The substrate can influence the crystallization temperature and the obtained crystallographic orientation due to the interfacial energies and the lattice mismatch. The mesostructure can influence the crystallite orientation, and affects nucleation and growth behavior due to the wall thickness and pore curvature. Three main methods are presented and discussed: templated mesoporosity followed by thermally induced crystallization, mesostructuration of already crystallized metal oxide nanobuilding units and substrate-directed crystallization with an emphasis on very recent results concerning epitaxially grown piezoelectric structured α-quartz films via crystallization of amorphous structured SiO₂ thin films.

Electronic and magnetic structure of LaSr-2×4 manganese oxide molecular sieve nanowires

In this study we combine scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy and electron magnetic circular dichroism to get new insights into the electronic and magnetic structure of LaSr-2×4 manganese oxide molecular sieve nanowires integrated on a silicon substrate. These nanowires exhibit ferromagnetism with strongly enhanced Curie temperature (T c >500 K), and we show that the new crystallographic structure of these LaSr-2×4 nanowires involves spin orbital coupling and a mixed-valence Mn3+/Mn4+, which is a must for ferromagnetic ordering to appear, in line with the standard double exchange explanation.