Bottom-up approach to hybrid metallodielectric materials

A possibility of obtaining metallodielectric materials with a novel method of incorporation of arrays of metallic nanoparticles into dielectric crystals has been studied on the example of Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ as a single crystal material and Ni (20 nm) and Co (28 nm) nanoparticles as dopants. The nanoparticles were added into the single crystal melt and then the material has been crystallized using the micro-pulling down method with inductive heating system. Few different concentrations of the metallic particles in the range from 0.5 to 10 wt.% were applied. The structural properties of materials in perpendicular and parallel to the growth direction were investigated. From X-ray powder diffraction and SEM images it has been concluded that the metallic nanoparticles turned into bigger oxide nanoparticles.