Morphology and composition of nanoinclusions in (Fe, Ni)0.25TiSe2

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Vol. 283; p. 115821
• Main Authors: Shkvarin, A.S., Merentsov, A.I., Postnikov, M.S., Patrakov, E.I., Betz-Guttner, E., Gregoratti, L., Amati, M., Zeller, P., Titov, A.N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01-09-2022; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Composite; Dichalcogenides; Electronic structure; Inclusions; Intercalation compounds; Iron; Microscopy; Morphology; Nanocomposites; Nanocrystals; Nanoinclusions; Nickel compounds; Photoelectrons; SPEM; Substrates; SPEM; Nanoinclusions; Composite; Dichalcogenides
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2022.115821

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•Composite single crystals of (Fe,Ni)4Se5 and Ti3Se4 on bi-intercalated crystal (Fe,Ni)0.25TiSe2 are grown.•The morphology of these composite crystals has been studied by SEM, AFM and SPEM.•The electronic structure of the inclusions (Fe,Ni)4Se5 in coherent coupling with TiSe2 was studied.•Mechanism for the formation of such composite crystals has been proposed.•Thermodynamic modeling of the Ti3Se4 and (Fe, Ni) 4Se5 inclusions stability in the composite has been performed.
A nanocomposite material consisting of (Fe,Ni)4Se5 and Ti3Se4 nanocrystals coherently bounded with the (Fe,Ni)0.25TiSe2 substrate was obtained during the synthesis of the (Fe, Ni)xTiSe2 bi-intercalation compound from the mixture of Fe0.25TiSe2 and Ni0.25TiSe2. The morphology of these composite crystals has been studied using optical, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. The electronic structure of the inclusions was studied using X-ray scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM). We have shown that (Fe,Ni)4Se5 and Ti3Se4 inclusions grow simultaneously with (Fe,Ni)xTiSe2 substrate crystal on its (001) plane. The lateral growth of the (Fe,Ni)xTiSe2 crystal is accompanied by the “capturing” of the (Fe,Ni)4Se5 and Ti3Se4 inclusions by the (Fe,Ni)0.25TiSe2 substrate resulting in the formation of the composite crystal.