Nanoporous Piezo- and Ferroelectric Thin Films.

Nanoporous barium titanate and lead titanate thin films (∼100nm calculated from ellipsometric data) are prepared starting fromsol–gel solutions modified with a commercially available block-copolymerand evaporation-induced self-assembly methodology. The tuning of thethermal treatment followed by in situ ellipsometry allows the decompositionof the organic components and of the structuring agent leading tothe formation of porous tetragonal crystalline perovskite structuresas observed by XRD, HRTEM, SEM, and ellipsoporosimetry. Both nanoporousbarium titanate and lead titanate thin films present local piezoelectricand ferroelectric behavior measured by piezoresponse force microscopy(PFM), being promising platforms for the preparation of the generationof new multifunctional systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]