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Existence of Erbium Hexaboride Nanowires
Author(s) -
Gernhart Zane C.,
Jacobberger Robert M.,
Wang Lu,
Brewer Joseph R.,
Dar Mushtaq A.,
Diercks David R.,
Mei Wai Ning,
Cheung Chin Li
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2012.05427.x
Subject(s) - tetragonal crystal system , nanowire , erbium , transmission electron microscopy , materials science , chemical vapor deposition , lattice constant , nanotechnology , nanoparticle , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , crystal structure , diffraction , chemical engineering , crystallography , chemistry , optoelectronics , optics , doping , physics , engineering
The existence and stability of erbium hexaboride ( ErB 6 ) has been a controversial topic in literature due to cited failures in reproducing previous synthetic results. Here, we report our proof of the existence of ErB 6 by demonstrating the synthesis of a mixture of ErB 6 nanowires and erbium tetraboride ( ErB 4 ) nanoplatelets via palladium nanoparticle‐assisted chemical vapor deposition. High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected‐area electron diffraction showed that both the ErB 6 nanowires and ErB 4 nanoplatelets were single crystalline with expected cubic and tetragonal crystal structures, respectively. The observed lattice constants compared well with the theoretical structures calculated using density functional theory.