Size-Dependent Structural Phase Transitions in SrTiO3 Nanoparticles

Understanding the structural phase diagram of nano scale SrTiO3 has important implications on the basic physics and applications of the general class of transition metal oxide perovskites. Pressure dependent structural measurements on monodispersed nanoscale SrTiO3 samples with average diameters of 10 to ~80 nm were conducted. A robust pressure independent polar structure was detected in the 10 nm sample for pressures of up to 13 GPa while a size dependent cubic to tetragonal transition occurs (at P = Pc) for larger particle sizes. The results suggest that the growth of ~10 nm STO particles on substrates with large lattice mismatch will not alter the polar state of the system for a large range of strain values, possibly enabling device use.