Impurity Segregation and Nanoparticle Reorganization of Indium Doped MgO Cubes.

Metal oxide nanocomposites are non-equilibrium solids and promising precursors for functional materials. Annealing of such materials can provide control over impurity segregation and, depending on the level of consolidation, represents a versatile approach to engineer free surfaces, particle-particle interfaces and grain boundaries. Starting with indium-magnesium-oxide nanoparticle powders obtained via injection of an indium organic precursor into the magnesium combustion flame and subsequent particle quenching in argon, we investigated the stability of the trivalent In ions in the host lattice of MgO nanoparticles by determining grain growth, morphology evolution and impurity segregation.