Angewandte

Chemie

Nanostructures

DOI: 10.1002/anie.200602228

SiO2/Ta2O5 Core–Shell Nanowires and

Nanotubes**

Yu-Lun Chueh, Li-Jen Chou,* and Zhong Lin Wang

One-dimensional nanostructures such as nanowires, nano-

belts, and nanotubes have attracted much attention as a result
of their unique properties, which can be applied in the
fabrication of biomedical sensors, optoelectronic devices,
field-effect transistors, and field-emission devices, for exam-
ple.[1] In particular, one-dimensional nanostructures of metal
oxides such as ZnO,[2] SnO2,[3] a-Fe2O3,[4] WO3,[5] and Ta2O5,[6]
so-called functional materials, have been widely studied. The
synthesis of these functional metal oxide nanostructures are
investigated widely through physical and chemical reactions,
including vapor–liquid–solid (VLS),[7] solution–liquid–solid
(SLS),[8] vapor–solid (VS),[9] and other template-based
approaches.[10]
Ta2O5 is a fascinating functional material that has been
used in applications such as dynamic random access memory
(DRAM) devices, antireflection coating layers, gas sensors,
photocatalysts, and capacitors owing to its high dielectric
constant, high refractive index, chemical stability, and high-
temperature piezoelectric properties.[6a, 11] However, the syn-
thesis of Ta2O5 nanostructures (e.g. nanowires or nanotubes)
has had little success as a result of its high melting point. On
the other hand, silica (SiO2) nanowires are well developed for
electronic and optoelectronic applications.[12] Various meth-
ods of synthesizing SiO2 nanowires include pulsed laser
ablation,[12a] directed growth from a silica substrate or silica
nanoparticles in a reductive atmosphere,[13] direct growth
from a Si substrate with catalyst,[14] carbon-assisted and
carbothermal reduction of silicon dioxide or metal oxides,[15]
and the sol–gel method.[16] All of these approaches are direct,
simple, and high-yielding, which are important factors for
commercial applications.

[*] Y.-L. Chueh, Prof. L.-J. Chou

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
National Tsing Hua University
Hsinchu, Taiwan 300 (ROC)
Fax: (+ 886) 3-572-2366
E-mail: [email protected]
Y.-L. Chueh, Prof. Z. L. Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245 (USA)
[**] This research was supported by the National Science Council (grant
no. NSC 94-2215-E-007-019), the Ministry of Education (grant no.
93-E-FA04-1-4), the Thousand Horse Program (no. 095-2917-1-007-
014), the NSF, the NASA Vehicle System Program, the Department
of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E), and the Defense
Advanced Research Project Agency (N66001-040-1-18903).
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://www.angewandte.org or from the author.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7773 –7778  2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 7773
Communications
Herein, we present a tech-
nique for the fabrication of SiO2/
Ta2O5 core–shell nanotubes,
Ta2O5 nanotubes, and Ta2O5 nano-
wires by using SiO2 nanowires as
template. The structures were
prepared by annealing SiO2 nano-
wires in an atmosphere of Ta at
950 8C at a pressure of 1 <
10 6 Torr. The diameter of the
SiO2 core in the SiO2/Ta2O5
core–shell structure was readily
controlled, and the silica template
could be removed from the core–
shell structures by using dilute HF
solution to leave Ta2O5 nanotubes.
Furthermore, Ta2O5 nanowires
could be synthesized by increasing
the reduction (annealing) time so
that all of the SiO2 in the core–
shell structure was reduced by Ta
vapors. The subsequent character-
ization of the core–shell structures
as well as the Ta2O5 nanotubes
and nanowires was carried out by
cathodoluminescence (CL) and
field-emission measurements.
The scanning electron micros-
copy (SEM) image of SiO2 nano-
wires, prepared by annealing a 2-
nm-thick layer of Au on a Si wafer
under N2 atmosphere at 1150 8C
for 2 h, is shown in Figure 1 a. The
diameter of these SiO2 nanowires
is almost uniform, and the length
is up to several hundred micro-
meters. The corresponding trans- Figure 1. a) Top-view SEM image and b) corresponding TEM image of SiO2 nanowires. The upper
mission electron microscopy inset in (b) shows an electron diffraction pattern from a nanowire, while the lower inset shows the
(TEM) image indicates that most EDS spectrum. c) Top-view SEM image of SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell nanostructures formed by annealing
of the SiO2 nanowires have a SiO2 nanowires under a Ta atmosphere at 950 8C for 12 h. The inset in (c) shows the magnified SEM
smooth morphology, with a diam- image. d) XRD spectrum corresponding to the sample in (c). e) TEM image of SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell
eter of 100–150 nm (Figure 1 b). nanostructures. The inset in (e) shows the diffraction pattern. f) EDS spectrum recorded on the Ta2O5
shell of a SiO2/Ta2O5 nanostructure and schematic of the configuration of the core–shell nano-
The diffraction pattern (upper
structure.
inset in Figure 1 b) displays a
highly diffusive ring, indicating
that the silica nanowires are amorphous. The atomic concen- 0.388 nm, respectively (ICSD-43498).[17] Note that the TaSi2
tration of Si and O for these synthesized nanowires is about phase found in the XRD spectrum originates from a silicide
34 % and 66 %, respectively, and a ratio of 1:2 Si/O was reaction between the Si substrate and Ta vapors during the
inferred from quantitative TEM/EDS (energy-dispersive reduction procedure.
spectrometry) measurements (lower inset in Figure 1 b). TEM analysis was essential to examine the detailed
After annealing the nanowires at 950 8C for 12 h and microstructures of these nanowires (Figure 1 e). The different
subjecting them to a reductive Ta atmosphere, the morphol- contrast between the inside and the outside of these nano-
ogy of the resultant SiO2/Ta2O5 structures was similar wires provides significant evidence of a core–shell structure.
(Figure 1 c). The corresponding magnified SEM image The lower inset in Figure 1 e shows the diffraction pattern and
(upper inset in Figure 1 c) clearly shows the wirelike features. plane indices recorded from a SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell struc-
The phase and structure of these nanowires was characterized ture. The pattern is consistent with the results of XRD studies,
by X-ray diffraction (XRD; Figure 1 d) and revealed the indicating the polycrystalline characteristic of the SiO2/Ta2O5
Ta2O5 phase to have an orthorhombic structure (C2mm space core–shell structure (see the Supporting Information). Dif-
group) and lattice constants of a = 0.618, b = 0.366, and c = fusive white contrast was also observed confirming that SiO2

7774 www.angewandte.org  2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7773 –7778
 Angewandte
Chemie

nanowires were surrounded by a Ta2O5 shell. Note that SiO2 transition-metal oxides and SiO2.[18] Note that the heats of
or Si is incorporated inside the Ta2O5 shell during the formation for transition-metal oxides such as HfO2, TiO2, and
reduction process, but the main phase remains that of Ta2O5 Ta2O5 are lower than that of SiO2, which results in the
as determined by both the XRD and diffraction patterns reduction of SiO2 at high annealing temperatures. On the
(Figure 1 d and e, respectively). TEM/EDS measurements of other hand, the reduction of SiO2 is prohibited if the heat of
the shell of a SiO2/Ta2O5 structure revealed that it consists of formation of transition-metal oxides such as MnO3 is higher
20 % Ta, 71 % O, and 9 % Si. Upon examining in detail many than that of SiO2. Figure 2 d shows plots of the thickness of the
SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structures, the maximum concentration Ta2O5 shell of the SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structure as a
of Si in these Ta2O5 shells was found to be no more than 15 %. function of the reduction time at 950 8C. The relationship
The morphology of the core–shell structure was tunable, between the thickness of the Ta2O5 shell and the reduction
depending on the original shape of the SiO2 nanowire. If the time is nonlinear, revealing that the reduction mechanism is
SiO2 nanowire had a spiral morphology, the SiO2/Ta2O5 core– under diffusion control, that is, X2 = D t (X, D, and t denote
shell structure formed after the reduction process also the oxide thickness, parabolic reduction rate constant, and
revealed a spiral morphology. An example of the spiral reduction time, respectively).[19] The reduction rate constant,
morphology of a SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structure is high- D, was evaluated as about 2 < 10 16 cm2 s 1 by plotting the
lighted in Figure 2 a (see also the Supporting Information), thickness of the oxide shell as a function of the square root of
while the corresponding TEM image is shown in Figure 2 b. the reduction time (see inset in Figure 2 d). The thermal
The phase was confirmed to be that of Ta2O5 by the diffraction kinetic motion of Ta ions during the reduction process
pattern (see inset in Figure 2 b). The thickness of the Ta2O5 involves their diffusion through SiO2 and reduction of the
layer outside the SiO2 nanowires could be tuned by control- SiO2 layer. The diffusion-limited mechanism indicates that
ling the annealing (reduction) time (see Supporting Informa- the diffusion through the SiO2 layer is rather slow, resulting in
tion). The thickness of the Ta2O5 shell increased as the easier control over the reduction process. The measured rate
reduction time was increased at a constant temperature of constant represents the rate constant of diffusion. Also, the Si
950 8C or simply if the temperature was increased. signal detected in EDS studies in various Ta2O5 shells
How do the Ta atoms reduce the SiO2 to form the SiO2/ indicates that the Si atoms from SiO2 reduced by Ta vapors
Ta2O5 core–shell structure? Figure 2 c shows the heat of are involved in the Ta2O5 sublattice or excluded from the
formation ( DHf [kcal atom 1]) per oxygen atom for various grain boundary.
After dipping the core–shell struc-
tures in a diluted solution of HF to
remove the SiO2 inside the SiO2/Ta2O5
core–shell structure, the morphology
was unchanged. The inner SiO2 nano-
wires could be removed to leave Ta2O5
nanotubes intact (see Figure 3 a and
Supporting Information). The residual
TaSi2 formed by the reduction proce-
dure could be completely etched by
HF solution. The XRD results for the
nanotubes showed no peaks for TaSi2
and indicate that the amorphous SiO2
region was eliminated (see Supporting
Information).[18]
Ta2O5 nanowires could also be
prepared by increasing the reduction
time of the silica nanowires. For exam-
ple, after annealing SiO2 nanowires
with a diameter of less than 60 nm in a
reductive Ta atmosphere at 950 8C for
32 h, then Ta2O5 nanowires with
lengths of over several hundred micro-
meters were formed instead of the
SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structure (Fig-
ure 3 b). The TEM image of a Ta2O5
Figure 2. a) SEM image of a spiral SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell nanostructure obtained by annealing nanowire with a diameter of 100 nm is
SiO2 nanowires in a Ta atmosphere at 950 8C for 12 h. b) TEM image corresponding to the shown in Figure 3 c and indicates the
dashed rectangular area in (a). The inset shows the corresponding electron diffraction pattern.
polycrystalline feature of the structure.
c) Heats of formation ( DHf ) for different metal oxides (the dashed line is shown to compare
other metal oxides with SiO2). d) Variation in the thickness of the Ta2O5 shell as a function of From the quantitative EDS measure-
reduction (annealing) time. The inset shows the linear relationship between the square root of ments, it can be seen that the concen-
reduction time and the shell thickness. tration of Si is about 3–14 %. Although

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7773 –7778  2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.angewandte.org 7775
Communications
sites in the sublattice of Ta2O5 (see Support-
ing Information).
Figure 4 a shows the SEM image of a
Ta2O5 nanotube after dipping it into a dilute
solution of HF for 5 h. The CL spectra record
from two areas of the sample labeled as A
and B are shown in the insets of Figure 4 a.
Two peaks from the area labeled as A were
detected, whereas no peak was found from
the area B. The CL image under excitation at
15 kV was also measured (Figure 4 b). Fig-
ure 4 c shows the CL spectrum from the
Ta2O5 nanotube sample (area A) after Gaus-
sian fitting and reveals two clear peaks at
563 nm (2.2 eV) and 301 nm (4.1 eV), as well
as a broad peak in the range of 2–5 eV. The
band gap of Ta2O5 is about 4.1–4.2 eV, which
results in some radiative recombination
emission caused by oxygen deficiency.[20]
The peak at 563 nm (2.2 eV) is attributed
to the oxygen vacancies inside the Ta2O5
shell. The broad band at 2–5 eV may be
derived from a combination of two peaks at
Figure 3. a) Top-view SEM image of Ta2O5 nanotubes prepared by dipping a sample of SiO2/Ta2O5 460 and 355 nm which originate from the
core–shell nanostructures in diluted HF solution to remove the SiO2 nanowire core. b) Top-view residual SiO2 inside the Ta2O5 nanotube or
SEM image of Ta2O5 nanowires. The inset shows the magnified SEM image recorded from the
from the initial Si substrate. The peak at
dashed rectangle area indicated by arrows. c) Typical TEM image of a Ta2O5 nanowire. The inset
shows the corresponding electron diffraction pattern. d) SEM image showing the spiral morphology 301 nm (4.1 eV, violet region) in the CL
of Ta2O5 nanowires taken from the larger dashed rectangular area in (b). The inset shows the spectrum originates from the d-band transi-
magnified SEM image. tion between the eg and t2g states, induced by

the concentration of Si inside the

Ta2O5 nanowires is fairly high, the
main phase remains that of Ta2O5,
as confirmed by the diffraction
pattern shown in the lower inset
in Figure 3 c. The morphology of
the Ta2O5 nanowires could be
modified according to the original
morphology of the SiO2 nanowire
template (lower right inset of Fig-
ure 3 b shows the spiral morphol-
ogy of Ta2O5 nanowires). The mag-
nified SEM image of the spiral
morphology of the Ta2O5 nano-
wires as well as a magnification of
this spiral structure are clearly seen
in Figure 3 d. The polycrystalline
feature is suggested to arise as a
result of two possible factors:
1) the segregation of Si during the
reduction process through the
grain boundary of Ta2O5 nanowires
and 2) anisotropic reduction along
the SiO2 nanowires. Moreover, dis- Figure 4. a) SEM image of a Ta2O5 nanotube after dipping it into diluted HF solution; the insets
show CL spectra recorded from two areas labeled A and B. b) CL image of the sample in (a) excited
locations can be found inside the
at 15 kV. c) CL spectrum recorded from a Ta2O5 nanotube (black line) after Gaussian curve fitting
grain of Ta2O5 which may be (pale gray line; deconvoluted spectra are shown in dark gray). d) Field-emission properties of a Ta2O5
caused by the location of Si atoms nanotube obtained from dipping a SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structure into diluted HF solution
in the substitutional or interstitial (j = current density). The inset shows the corresponding ln(j/E2) versus 1/E plot (see text for details).

7776 www.angewandte.org  2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 7773 –7778
 Angewandte
Chemie

ligand-field splitting (see Supporting Information).[21] A nanostructures. The surface morphology was examined by a field-
similar phenomenon is found in other materials, such as a- emission scanning electron microscope (JSM-6500F) operated at
Fe2O3 nanoparticles.[22] The violet peak derived from the 15 kV. To prepare the TEM specimen, all samples were sonicated in
ethanol and then dispersed on a copper grid supported by a holey
oxygen deficiency transition inside the Ta2O5 is also the factor
carbon film. A field-emission transmission electron microscope
for the CL peak at 301 nm. Violet light is of interest in (JEM-3000F) operated at 300 kV, with a point-to-point resolution
fundamental research and for applications in full-color of 0.17 nm and equipped with an energy-dispersion spectrometer, an
displays. Here, by controlling the thickness of the SiO2 core electron energy loss spectrometer, as well as a high-angle annular
inside the SiO2/Ta2O5 core–shell structure, which in turn dark field detector, was used to characterize the microstructures and
defines the CL wavelength, the nanotubes may be used in chemical compositions. Electron field-emission behavior was mea-
sured in a vacuum of 1 < 10 7 Torr by using a spherical stainless-steel
optical transportation phenomena, such as light propagation.
probe (1-mm diameter) as the anode. The lowest emission current was
The current density as a function of the applied electric recorded on the level of nA. The measurement distance between the
field for the Ta2O5 nanotube sample at a fixed distance of anode and the emitting surface was fixed at 100 mm. The CL spectrum
100 mm between the anode and the surface of the nanotube is was measured in the scanning electron microscope with an electron
shown in Figure 4 d. Two parameters, the turn-on field and the probe microanalyzer (Shimadzu EPMA-1500). CL spectra were
threshold field, are defined as the applied voltage (E) needed accumulated in single-shot mode within a short time of 1 s. In
to produce a current density of 0.01 and 10 mA cm 2, general, the CL excitation was performed with a beam current of
about 100 nA in television scanning mode of 2.9 < 10 5 cm2.
respectively, for which respective values of 8 and 13 V mm 1
were determined. The inset in Figure 4 d shows a plot of ln(j/
Received: June 3, 2006
E2) versus 1/E. The linear relationship is consistent with the Published online: October 20, 2006
so-called Fowler–Nordheim plot (F-N plot; Figure 4 d) and
indicates that the field-emission behavior obeys the F-N rule,
that is, electrons tunnel through the potential barrier from the
conduction band to the vacuum state.[23] Although these
.
Keywords: nanostructures · reduction · silicon · tantalum ·
template synthesis

values are somewhat higher than for other oxide materials,

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