Formation of Nickel Oxide Nanocuboids in Ferromagnetic La<sub>2</sub>Ni<sub>1−x</sub>Mn<sub>1+x</sub>O<sub>6</sub>
Monica Bernal-Salamanca,
Zorica Konstantinović,
Carlos Frontera,
Víctor Fuentes,
Alberto Pomar,
Lluis Balcells,
Benjamín Martínez
Affiliations
Monica Bernal-Salamanca
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Zorica Konstantinović
Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials, Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 118, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
Carlos Frontera
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Víctor Fuentes
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Alberto Pomar
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Lluis Balcells
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Benjamín Martínez
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus de Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
The control of the spontaneous formation of nanostructures at the surface of thin films is of strong interest in many different fields, from catalysts to microelectronics, because surface and interfacial properties may be substantially enhanced. Here, we analyze the formation of nickel oxide nanocuboids on top of La2Ni1−xMn1+xO6 double perovskite ferromagnetic thin films, epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrates by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. We show that, by annealing the films at high temperature under high oxygen partial pressure, the spontaneous segregation of nanocuboids is enhanced. The evolution of the structural and magnetic properties of the films is studied as a function of the annealing treatments at different temperatures. It is shown that the formation of NiOx nanocuboids leads to a nanostructured film surface with regions of locally different electrical transport characteristics.
