Monodispersed strontium titanate nanoparticles were prepared and studied in detail. It is found that ~10 nm as-prepared stoichiometric nanoparticles are in a polar structural state (with possibly ferroelectric properties) over a broad temperature range. A tetragonal structure, with possible reduction of the electronic hybridization is found as the particle size is reduced. In the 10 nm particles, no change in the local Ti-off centering is seen between 20 and 300 K. The results indicate that nanoscale motifs of SrTiO3 may be utilized in data storage as assembled nano-particle arrays in applications where chemical stability, temperature stability and low toxicity are critical issues.
@article{arxiv.1408.1383,
title = {Polar State in Freestanding Strontium Titanate Nanoparticles},
author = {Trevor A. Tyson and Tian Yu and Mark Croft and Megan E. Scofield and Dara Bobb-Semple and Jing Tao and Cherno Jaye and Daniel Fischer and Stanislaus S. Wong},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.1383},
year = {2015}
}