Self-assembled multiferroic nanostructures in the CoFe2O4-PbTiO3 system -: art. no. 072909

The effect of substrate orientation on the morphologies of epitaxial self-assembled nanostructures was demonstrated using multiferroic 0.67PbTiO(3)-0.33CoFe(2)O(4) thin films. The two-phase composite films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates having (001) and (110) orientations. The nanostructures of both orientations consisted of vertical rod- or platelet-like columns of CoFe2O4 dispersed in a PbTiO3 matrix. For the (001) orientation the platelet habits were parallel to the {110} planes, whereas for the (110) orientation the platelets were parallel to the {111} planes. The differences were explained using a thermodynamic theory of heterophase structures. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.