Raman study of phase transitions induced by thermal annealing and laser irradiation in antimony oxide micro- and nanostructures

Abstract

Phase transitions between the cubic and orthorhombic phases of Sb₂O₃ micro- and nanostructures and the orthorhombic phase of Sb₂O₄ have been investigated. The phase transformations were assessed by micro Raman spectroscopy. Thermal annealing of cubic phase triangular structures showed a partial transformation to Sb₂O₄ (cervantite) at 400 °C. However, during the thermal treatment, the specific morphology of the structures was lost. Laser irradiation with 325 nm light on a confocal microscope induced local phase transformations between the orthorhombic and cubic phases. For small structures, such as orthorhombic nanorods and cubic nanotriangles, the irradiation led to the formation of Sb₂O₄.