title: Enhanced Structural and Magnetic Coupling in a Mesocrystal-Assisted Nanocomposite.
abstract: Benefiting from the advances made in well-controlled materials synthesis techniques, nanocomposites have drawn considerable attention due to their enthralling physics and functionalities. In this work, we report a new heteroepitaxial mesocrystal-perovskite nanocomposite, (NiFe2O4)0.33:(La0.67Ca0.33MnO3)0.67. Elaborate structural studies revealed that tiny NiFe2O4 nanocrystals aggregate into ordered octahedral mesocrystal arrays with {111} facets together with a concomitant structural phase transition of the La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 matrix upon postannealing process. Combined magnetic and X-ray absorption spectroscopic measurements show significant enhancement in the magnetic properties at room temperature due to the structural evolution of magnetic NiFe2O4 and the consequent magnetic coupling at the heterointerfaces mediating via well connected octahedrons of Mn-O6 in La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 and (Ni,Fe)-O6 in NiFe2O4. This work demonstrates an approach to manipulate the exciting physical properties of material systems by integrating desired functionalities of the constituents via synthesis of a self-assembled mesocrystal embedded nanocomposite system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Physics and Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing , Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Yuanmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Physics and Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing , Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jan-Chi
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yugandhar
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bitla
authors.affiliation: Department of Material Physics and Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing , Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Pingping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chen-I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Heng-Jui
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.
authors.forename: V Suresh
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arenholz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Durham University , Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University , Hsinchu 30010, Taiwan.|Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica , Taipei 155, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ying-Hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chu
keywords: heterointerfaces; magnetic coupling; mesocrystal; self-assembled nanocomposite; structural evolution