摘要
Benefiting from the advances made in well-controlled materials synthesis techniques, nanocomposites have drawn considerable attention due to their enthralling physics and functionalities. In this work, we report a new heteroepitaxial mesocrystal-perovskite nanocomposite, (NiFe 2 O 4 ) 0.33 :(La 0.67 Ca 0.33 MnO 3 ) 0.67 . Elaborate structural studies revealed that tiny NiFe 2 O 4 nanocrystals aggregate into ordered octahedral mesocrystal arrays with {111} facets together with a concomitant structural phase transition of the La 0.67 Ca 0.33 MnO 3 matrix upon postannealing process. Combined magnetic and X-ray absorption spectroscopic measurements show significant enhancement in the magnetic properties at room temperature due to the structural evolution of magnetic NiFe 2 O 4 and the consequent magnetic coupling at the heterointerfaces mediating via well connected octahedrons of Mn-O 6 in La 0.67 Ca 0.33 MnO 3 and (Ni,Fe)-O 6 in NiFe 2 O 4 . This work demonstrates an approach to manipulate the exciting physical properties of material systems by integrating desired functionalities of the constituents via synthesis of a self-assembled mesocrystal embedded nanocomposite system.