Abstract
In-situ transmission electron microscopy in combination with a heating stage has been employed to real-time monitor variations of δ-phase MnO2 nanoflowers in terms of their morphology and crystalline structures upon thermal annealing at elevated temperatures up to ∼665 °C. High-temperature annealing drives the diffusion of the small δ-MnO2 nanocrystallites within short distances less than 15 nm and the fusion of the adjacent δ-MnO2 nanocrystallites, leading to the formation of larger crystalline domains including highly crystalline nanorods. The annealed nanoflowers remain their overall flower-like morphology while they are converted to α-MnO2. The preferred transformation of the δ-MnO2 to the α-MnO2 can be ascribed to the close lattice spacing of most crystalline lattices between δ-MnO2 and α-MnO2, that might lead to a possible epitaxial growth of α-MnO2 lattices on the δ-MnO2 lattices during the thermal annealing process.
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Sun, Y., Liu, Y., Truong, T.T. et al. Thermal transformation of δ-MnO2 nanoflowers studied by in-situ TEM. Sci. China Chem. 55, 2346–2352 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-012-4688-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-012-4688-5