摘要
We present the study of the synthesis of (001) nickel oxide (NiO) epitaxial nanocrystals grown on (001) strontium titanate (SrTiO 3 ) single crystal substrates. Pulsed laser deposition of the bismuth nickel oxide (BiNiO 3 , BNO) perovskite precursor followed by post-deposition processing is carried out to form the NiO nanocrystals. A detailed analysis of the dimensions of nanocrystals reveals that the morphology attained differs from the thermodynamically expected equilibrium shape. The deviations from the equilibrium shape are found to follow a systematic trend where the in-plane basal dimensions, that is, the length and width of the nanocrystals grown differ in discretized dimensions. This discretization suggests that for a given interfacial area of nanocrystals there are multiple stable basal rectangular geometries attainable.