Aberration corrected and 3D cryo-tomography HAADF-STEM surface studies of ZnO tetrapods

TY - JOUR

T1 - Aberration corrected and 3D cryo-tomography HAADF-STEM surface studies of ZnO tetrapods

AU - Ward, M.R.

AU - Gai, P.L.

AU - Boyes, E.D.

AU - Yoshida, K.

AU - Sugiura, H.

AU - Tanaka, N.

PY - 2012/1/1

Y1 - 2012/1/1

N2 - We present a morphology study of ZnO tetrapods using aberration corrected TEM, HAADF-STEM and 3D HAADF-STEM cryotomography as an alternative to more conventional TEM and SEM techniques. We use 3D IMOD reconstructions to show that the {11̄0} facets dominate the total surface area of uniform hexagonal prism tetrapods. Using HRTEM we show that the small tetrapods have a zincblende phase core from which the four legs extend. The facets and the edges of these legs were found to be atomically clean and flat with the potential for ZnO tetrapods as model substrates. We deposited ultrafine Pt/Pd nanoparticles onto the tetrapods and investigated the resulting morphologies. We found using HAADF-STEM cryotomography and reconstruction techniques that the nanoparticle coverage gave separate nanoparticles and overall uniform coverage. We believe these techniques and the results from them could be useful for the development of nanoparticle-ZnO tetrapod composite systems with applications in optoelectronics, gas sensing and catalysis.

AB - We present a morphology study of ZnO tetrapods using aberration corrected TEM, HAADF-STEM and 3D HAADF-STEM cryotomography as an alternative to more conventional TEM and SEM techniques. We use 3D IMOD reconstructions to show that the {11̄0} facets dominate the total surface area of uniform hexagonal prism tetrapods. Using HRTEM we show that the small tetrapods have a zincblende phase core from which the four legs extend. The facets and the edges of these legs were found to be atomically clean and flat with the potential for ZnO tetrapods as model substrates. We deposited ultrafine Pt/Pd nanoparticles onto the tetrapods and investigated the resulting morphologies. We found using HAADF-STEM cryotomography and reconstruction techniques that the nanoparticle coverage gave separate nanoparticles and overall uniform coverage. We believe these techniques and the results from them could be useful for the development of nanoparticle-ZnO tetrapod composite systems with applications in optoelectronics, gas sensing and catalysis.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865431903&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/1742-6596/371/1/012073

DO - 10.1088/1742-6596/371/1/012073

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84865431903

SN - 1742-6588

VL - 371

JO - Journal of Physics: Conference Series

JF - Journal of Physics: Conference Series

M1 - 012073

ER -