Self-assembly and formation mechanism of single-crystal SrTiO3 nanosheets via solvothermal route with ethylene glycol as reaction medium

Single-crystal strontium titanate (SrTiO3) nanosheets have been synthesized via a solvothermal reaction route with ethylene glycol (EG) as reaction medium solvent. The as-synthesized SrTiO3 products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The results show that the single-crystal SrTiO3 nanosheets are parallel to the (110) plane and self-assembled by primary nanocrystallites in monolayer. EG as a organic solvent plays an important role in the synthesis of the single-crystal SrTiO3 nanosheets. Based on the experimental results, a possible formation mechanism of the single-crystal SrTiO3 nanosheets has been proposed.