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  • Thermal stability of self-assembled ordered three-phase Au–BaTiO 3 –ZnO nanocomposite thin films via in situ heating in TEM
Title: Thermal stability of self-assembled ordered three-phase Au–BaTiO 3 –ZnO nanocomposite thin films via in situ heating in TEM
Thermal stability of oxide–metal nanocomposites is important for designing practical devices for high temperature applications. Here, we study the thermal stability of the self-assembled ordered three-phase Au–BaTiO 3 –ZnO nanocomposite by both ex situ annealing under air and vacuum conditions, and by in situ heating in TEM in a vacuum. The study reveals that the variation of the annealing conditions greatly affects the resulting microstructure and the associated dominant diffusion mechanism. Specifically, Au nanoparticles show coarsening upon air annealing, while Au and Zn either form a solid solution, with Zn atomic percentage less than 10%, or undergo a reverse Vapor–Liquid–Solid (VLS) mechanism upon vacuum annealing. The distinct microstructures obtained also show different permittivity response in the visible and near-infrared region, while retaining their hyperbolic dispersion characteristics enabled by their highly anisotropic structures. Such in situ heating study in TEM provides critical information about microstructure evolution, growth mechanisms at the nanoscale, and thermal stability of the multi-phase nanocomposites for future electronic device applications.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2016453 1565822
PAR ID:
10226867
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Nanoscale
Volume:
12
Issue:
46
ISSN:
2040-3364
Page Range / eLocation ID:
23673 to 23681
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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