Structure of oxidized bismuth nanoclusters.

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction has determined that beta-Bi(2)O(3) is the dominant oxide phase covering hexagonal bismuth nanoclusters produced in an inert gas aggregation source. Simulated Debye-Scherrer patterns have indicated that the oxide is 20 +/- 5 Angstroms thick on average, at the surface of 320 +/- 40 Angstroms diameter clusters. A Williamson-Hall analysis of the peak broadening was used to measure the non-uniform strain in clusters. The oxidized clusters were in -0.11 +/- 0.06% uniform compressive strain compared with other clusters without oxides detectable by X-ray diffraction which only have a small tensile uniform strain. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and multislice image simulations indicated a beta-Bi(2)O(3) thickness of 20-50 Angstroms. The HRTEM micrographs show the relative orientation between the oxide and the cluster core.

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