High Throughput Synthesis of Multifunctional Oxide Nanostructures within Nanoreactors Defined by Beam Pen Lithography

Reliably obtaining nanostructures of complex oxides over large area with nanoscale resolution and well-controlled shape, spacing, and pattern symmetry remains a major challenge. In this article, millions of nanowells have been routinely generated by beam pen lithography. Each attoliter volume nanowell functions as a “nanoreactor”, inside which oxide nanostructures are synthesized from their sol–gel precursors. Importantly, these nanometer scale entities are in single crystalline or textured forms and epitaxial to the underlying substrates, which promises functionalities including ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, and multiferroicity. This method provides a general solution which allows one to rapidly screen structural parameters of oxide nanostructures comprising of three or more elements for prominent properties.