Toward ordered mesoporous rare-earth sesquioxide thin films viapolymer templating: high temperature stable C-type Er2O3 with finely-tunable crystallite sizes

Abstract

Facile polymer templating enables the production of cubic C-type Er₂O₃ thin films with a 3D honeycomb structure of 15–17 nm diameter pores and crystalline domain sizes ranging from 3–4 nm at 600 °C to ∼13 nm at 900 °C. These novel nanomaterials not only have a thermally stable and robust framework but are also well-defined at both the nano- and microscale.