Ferroelectric Properties of KIO₃ Nanorods Grown Inside Aluminum Oxide Pores

Abstract

This paper reports the characterization and ferroelectric properties of a dense array of KIO ₃ nanorods grown inside an aluminum oxide porous film. The pores are cylindrical, having an average diameter of 43 nm and a length of 1 micron. They are uniformly aligned in vertical to the film plane. The crystals grown inside the pores possess a uniform crystallographic orientation, where the normal to their (11) planes is aligned along the pore axis. Polarization vs. applied electric field measurements, made at room temperature along the direction of the pore axis, yield a ferroelectric hysteresis with a remanent polarization of about 0.55μC/cm ² and a coercive field of about 50 kV/cm.

Keywords:

• Nanorods, KIO₃
• potassium iodate
• ferroelectric
• porous aluminum oxide

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Russell-Berrie Nanotechnology Institute for their support.