Issue 31, 2024

Chiral mesostructured In2O3 films twisted along different crystal orientations

Abstract

Chiral mesostructured In2O3 films (CMIFs) composed of nanoflakes with exposed facets of (30[3 with combining macron]0) and (10[1 with combining macron]4) (referred to as CMIFs-30[3 with combining macron]0 and CMIFs-10[1 with combining macron]4) were synthesized using a malic acid (Mal)-assisted hydrothermal method, with or without the addition of trisodium citrate dihydrate as the structure directing agent. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest that the asymmetric displacement of In and O atoms generated by the chemical bonding of Mal on the crystal plane of as-prepared InOOH is the geometric basis for triggering the chiral distortion in the In2O3 crystal lattice and further hierarchical chirality in the CMIFs. After adding Na3C6H5O7·2H2O, the preferential adsorption facet of Mal on InOOH crystal transforms from (0001) to (10[1 with combining macron]0) due to the stronger interaction between the Na3C6H5O7·2H2O and the (0001) plane, arising from its multiple carboxyl groups. This results in different helical axes of nanoflakes in CMIFs-10[1 with combining macron]4 and CMIFs-30[3 with combining macron]0. Both CMIFs-10[1 with combining macron]4 and CMIFs-30[3 with combining macron]0 exhibit spin chiral anisotropy (SChA), with the manifestation of external magnetic field-independent but chirality-dependent asymmetric magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) due to the dominant contribution from chirality-induced effective magnetic fields when electrons move in a helical potential.

Graphical abstract: Chiral mesostructured In2O3 films twisted along different crystal orientations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 apr 2024
Accepted
18 jun 2024
First published
19 jun 2024

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024,12, 11763-11768

Chiral mesostructured In2O3 films twisted along different crystal orientations

T. Ji, H. Chen, J. Ai, L. Han, Z. Qu, S. Che and Y. Duan, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024, 12, 11763 DOI: 10.1039/D4TC01339E

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