Formation Mechanisms of Functional Oxides Nanostructures

Nanostructures of functional oxides offer a broad range of enhanced and new physical properties at the nanoscale, including magnetic, ionic and chemical transport, catalytic, photonic, etc. which can be tuned through their chemical composition and strain state. In turn, the final state of such nanostructures is often governed by a complex interplay between chemical, electronic and structural degrees of freedom which manifests strongly sensitive to their crystal growth mechanism as determined by specific substrate-film interaction effects and surface kinetics. Thus, while the balance between elastic strain, surface and interface energies governing self assembling processes is nowadays mostly established for conventional semiconductor systems, complex oxides offer a radically new scenario that remains poorly understood.

This Research Topic deals with the fabrication of nanostructures of functional oxides covering a broad range of functional properties (from ionic conduction to multiferroicism). Both, ongoing original works, as well as short reviews and perspectives will be encouraged. Prospects and limitations of “Bottom –up” vs “top-down” approaches will be discussed. The general aim is to discus the self-organization mechanisms from the experimental and theoretical point of views.