Observation of epitaxially ordered twinned zinc aluminate “nanoblades” on c-capphire
McGlynn, EndaORCID: 0000-0002-3412-9035, Twamley, Brendan, Nanda, Karuna K., Grabowska, Justina, Rajendra Kumar, Ramasamy Thangavelu, Newcomb, Simon B., Mosnier, Jean-PaulORCID: 0000-0002-9312-1754 and Henry, Martin O.
(2012)
Observation of epitaxially ordered twinned zinc aluminate “nanoblades” on c-capphire.
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 23
(3).
pp. 758-765.
ISSN 0957-4522
We report the observation of a novel nanostructured growth mode of the ceramic spinel zinc aluminate grown on c-sapphire in the form of epitaxially ordered twinned crystallites with pronounced vertically aligned “nanoblades” on top of these crystallites. The nanostructures are formed on bare c-sapphire substrates using a vapour phase transport method. Electron microscopy images reveal the nanostructure morphology and dimensions and allow direct and indirect observation of the twin boundary location in a number of samples. The nanoblade structure with sharply rising sidewalls gives rise to a distinctive bright contrast in secondary electron images in scanning electron microscopy measurements.