Synthesis and Properties of Ferroelectric Nanotubes and Nanowires: A Review

Polar or pyroelectric materials have a non-centrosymmetric structure and possess an electrical dipole moment even in the absence of an external electric field. This chapter focuses on the synthesis methods developed for the preparation on nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) either free-standing or grown on a substrate. It also describes the crystal structure, domain organization and the ferroelectric properties of these nanostructures, including local scale measurement by means of atomic force microscopy techniques. Considering the very small size of NWs and NTs, the crystal structure is commonly investigated by powder X-ray diffraction methods, which provide the average structure of a large number of nanoobjects with a more or less wide size and aspect ratio distributions. Rich information on crystal structure, lattice arrangement, growth direction, domain patterns, and the existence of defects in individual NWs can be obtained by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy.