Electron beam-induced morphology transformations of Fe2TiO5 nanoparticles

Abstract

Iron(III) titanium oxide, Fe₂TiO₅, is attracting growing interest as a promising candidate for solar-energy and electrochemistry applications. In this paper, we studied the effects of electron-beam irradiation on the morphology and microstructure of Fe₂TiO₅ nanoparticles (NPs) produced by a solvothermal method, with or without the addition of polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP). For the Fe₂TiO₅ NPs produced without adding PVP, their structure and morphology show no obvious changes under electron beam irradiation. However, for the Fe₂TiO₅ NPs produced with PVP, they undergo three distinct stages of morphological evolution under the electron beam irradiation, namely, layer exfoliation, local pulverization, and amorphization. The different behaviors are attributed to the fact that PVP can generate oxygen vacancies in Fe₂TiO₅. The thermal effect and knock-on collision caused by the electron beam play a dominant role in the morphological changes of Fe₂TiO₅ NPs produced with PVP. Our results provide insights into the morphological evolution of polymetallic oxides under electron beam irradiation.