Self‐Assembled Ordered Three‐Phase Au–BaTiO3–ZnO Vertically Aligned Nanocomposites Achieved by a Templating Method

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2019-02, Vol.31 (7), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Misra, Shikhar, Li, Leigang, Zhang, Di, Jian, Jie, Qi, Zhimin, Fan, Meng, Chen, Hou‐Tong, Zhang, Xinghang, Wang, Haiyan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barium titanates; Electronic devices; Epitaxial growth; epitaxial thin films; Ferroelectric materials; Ferroelectricity; Gold; metamaterials; Multiphase; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Photonics; plasmonics; self‐assembly; three‐phase nanocomposites; vertically aligned nanocomposites; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201806529

Complex multiphase nanocomposite designs present enormous opportunities for developing next‐generation integrated photonic and electronic devices. Here, a unique three‐phase nanostructure combining a ferroelectric BaTiO3, a wide‐bandgap semiconductor of ZnO, and a plasmonic metal of Au toward multifunctionalities is demonstrated. By a novel two‐step templated growth, a highly ordered Au–BaTiO3–ZnO nanocomposite in a unique “nanoman”‐like form, i.e., self‐assembled ZnO nanopillars and Au nanopillars in a BaTiO3 matrix, is realized, and is very different from the random three‐phase ones with randomly arranged Au nanoparticles and ZnO nanopillars in the BaTiO3 matrix. The ordered three‐phase “nanoman”‐like structure provides unique functionalities such as obvious hyperbolic dispersion in the visible and near‐infrared regime enabled by the highly anisotropic nanostructures compared to other random structures. Such a self‐assembled and ordered three‐phase nanocomposite is obtained through a combination of vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) and two‐phase epitaxy growth mechanisms. The study opens up new possibilities in the design, growth, and application of multiphase structures and provides a new approach to engineer the ordering of complex nanocomposite systems with unprecedented control over electron–light–matter interactions at the nanoscale. A highly ordered self‐assembled Au–BaTiO3–ZnO nanocomposite is demonstrated, obtained through a combination of vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) and two‐phase epitaxy growth mechanisms. The ordered three‐phase “nanoman”‐like structure provides unique functionalities such as obvious hyperbolic dispersion in the visible and near infrared regime enabled by the highly anisotropic nanostructures in addition to the ferroelectric and plasmonic response.