In consideration of the merits of the hydrothermal epitaxy, however, nothing is currently known about the hydrothermal growth of epitaxial EuTiO3 films and their properties. In this paper, we report the hydrothermal epitaxy of EuTiO3 films on SrTiO3(001) substrate at 150°C and the properties of the films. We find that the as-grown epitaxial EuTiO3 films show an out-of-plane lattice shrinkage and room-temperature ferromagnetism. Postannealing at 1,000°C evidences that this lattice shrinkage relates to

the instabilities of Eu oxidation state in the films. Methods The heteroepitaxial EuTiO3 films investigated were grown on SrTiO3(001) substrate by hydrothermal AZD8931 cost method. Prior to growth,

a solution of KOH (10 M, 15 mL) was added into a suspension which was composed of TiO2 (0.2 g), Eu(NO3)3 · xH2O (1.0 g) and H2O (50 mL) with a subsequent constant stirring for 30 min. The resulting solution was then introduced into a 100-mL Teflon-lined stainless autoclave with a fill factor of 65%, where the SrTiO3(001) substrate was fixed inside. The autoclave was shifted to a SC79 chemical structure preheated oven holding at 150°C. After 24 h of growth, the sample was removed from the autoclave, cleaned by deionized water, and then dried ready in the air for the subsequent measurements. The phase structure of the films was assessed by high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HRXRD; Bede D1, Durham, UK). HRXRD longitudinal ω- 2θ scans were recorded with an analyzer PDK4 composed of Ge channel-cut crystals, while a pole figure was taken in skew geometry and with open detector. To assess the morphology and microstructure of the films, the samples were cleaved into smaller pieces for investigation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM; Hitachi S-4800, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM; TecnaiTMG2F30, FEI, Hillsboro, OR, USA), the latter through the standard mechanical

thinning and ion-milling processes. The elemental composition of the films was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron Selleck PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor 3 spectroscopy (XPS; Kratos AXIS UltraDLD, Manchester, UK). The absence of water or hydroxyl in the films was evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR; Nexus870, Nicolet, Madison, WI, USA). The magnetic properties of the as-grown and annealed samples were measured in a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry (SQUID). All magnetization data presented here are corrected for the diamagnetic background of the substrate. Postannealing of the as-grown sample was carried out in an Ar ambient for 10 h at 1,000°C. Results and discussion Most remarkable is the peculiar morphology observed by SEM from which a sequential growth of the films is proposed.