Epitaxial Growth of Anisotropically Shaped, Single-crystal Particles of Cubic SrTiO₃

A novel method for synthesizing anisotropically shaped particles of materials having cubic symmetry is reported. Anisotropically shaped single-crystal particles of cubic SrTiO₃ were obtained by epitaxial growth on tabular tetragonal Sr₃Ti₂O₇. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that both the shape and the size of the single-crystal particles was regulated by selecting a precursor material that can act as a reaction site in molten KCl and has an epitaxial relation with SrTiO₃. The [001] and [110] directions of tabular SrTiO₃ are parallel to the [001] and [110] directions of the Sr₃Ti₂O₇ host particle, respectively. Tabular SrTiO₃ particles with rectangular faces having an edge length of 10–20 μm and a thickness of ˜2 μm were obtained by reacting TiO₂ and tabular Sr₃Ti₂O₇ particles of the same edge length in molten KCl.