Mutual Stabilization of Metastable Phases of Tin Oxide: Epitaxial Encapsulation of Tetragonal SnO Microcrystals by Orthorhombic SnO2

Jagadish, K and Rai, RK and Pandey, M and Chandni, U and Ravishankar, N (2022) Mutual Stabilization of Metastable Phases of Tin Oxide: Epitaxial Encapsulation of Tetragonal SnO Microcrystals by Orthorhombic SnO2. In: Journal of Physical Chemistry C .

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Abstract

Electron microscopy studies on stannous oxide (α-SnO), a metastable two-dimensional layered material, have revealed exciting aspects of the structure and phase stability in the tin-oxygen system. Single-crystalline SnO sheets with an "inverse-pyramid" morphology (thickness of 30 nm and lateral dimension in the micron scale) have been synthesized using a simple wet chemical technique. Electron diffraction from the sheets reveals a secondary metastable phase, namely, o-SnO2, to be present coherently with the single-crystalline SnO. The orientation relationship between the two phases and their variants has been investigated. Atomic-resolution imaging reveals the presence of the coherent secondary o-SnO2phase and its two rotational variants on the surface. A detailed cross-sectional analysis of the sheets reveals that the SnO phase is completely encapsulated by a thin layer of the metastable orthorhombic phase. The metastable SnO phase is thus stabilized by the presence of the encapsulating o-SnO2on its surface; the metastable o-SnO2phase itself is stabilized by the underlying SnO substrate. The temperature dependence of resistance, I-V characteristics, and the Schottky barrier height of the lithographically formed SnO/Cr-Au contact on the single crystals have been studied. The transport mechanism is found to be governed by the variable-range hopping (VRH) process. The present study clarifies several unexplained features of the reported microstructures in the SnO system and provides some new insights into the mutual stabilization of metastable phases in the oxides of Sn that could be applicable for other systems as well.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to American Chemical Society.
Keywords:	Chromium compounds; Crystalline materials; Gold compounds; Metastable phases; Schottky barrier diodes; Single crystals; Stabilization; Temperature distribution, Lateral dimension; Layered material; Metastable phase; Metastables; Micron scale; Simple++; Single-crystalline; Synthesised; Two-dimensional; Wet chemical techniques, Tin oxides
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Materials Research Centre Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Centre for Nano Science and Engineering Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Instrumentation Appiled Physics
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2022 07:30
Last Modified:	05 Oct 2022 07:30
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/77044

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