Controlling Disorder and Superconductivity in Titanium Oxynitride Nanoribbons with Anion Exchange.
In recent years, conversion chemical reactions, which are driven by ion diffusion, emerged as an important concept for formation of nanoparticles. Here we demonstrate that the slow anion diffusion in anion exchange reactions can be efficiently used to tune the disorder strength and the related electronic properties of nanoparticles. This paradigm is applied to high-temperature formation of titanium oxynitride nanoribbons, Ti(O,N), transformed from hydrogen titanate nanoribbons in an ammonia atmosphere. The nitrogen content, which determines the chemical disorder through random O/N occupancy and ion vacancies in the Ti(O,N) composition, increases with the reaction time. The presence of disorder has paramount effects on resistivity of Ti(O,N) nanoribbons. Atypically for metals, the resistivity increases with decreasing temperature due to the weak localization effects. From this state, superconductivity develops below considerably or completely suppressed critical temperatures, depending on the disorder strength. Our results thus establish the remarkable versatility of anion exchange for tuning of the electronic properties of Ti(O,N) nanoribbons and suggest that similar strategies may be applied to a vast number of nanostructures.
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.|Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Melita
M
Sluban
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Polona
P
Umek
Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana , Jamova cesta 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.|Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics , Jadranska cesta 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Zvonko
Z
Jagličić
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Jože
J
Buh
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Petra
P
Šmitek
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Aleš
A
Mrzel
Chimie des Interactions Plasma Surface, CIRMAP, Université de Mons , 20 Place du Parc, B-7000 Mons, Belgium.
Carla
C
Bittencourt
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Institute for Soft Matter and Functional Materials , Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
Peter
P
Guttmann
CNRS, Université de Bordeaux , ICMCB, UPR 9048, 87 Avenue du Dr Schweitzer, F-33608 Pessac Cedex, France.
Marie-Helene
MH
Delville
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Dragan
D
Mihailović
Jožef Stefan Institute , Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.|Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana , Jadranska cesta 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Denis
D
Arčon
Kirkendall effect; anion exchange; disorder; nanoribbons; superconductivity; titanium oxynitride