Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Size-dependent polar ordering in colloidal GeTe nanocrystals
Mark J Polking1, Jeffrey J Urban, Delia J Milliron
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California , Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Abstract:
The question of the nature and stability of polar ordering in nanoscale ferroelectrics is examined with colloidal nanocrystals of germanium telluride (GeTe). We provide atomic-scale evidence for room-temperature polar ordering in individual nanocrystals using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and demonstrate a reversible, size-dependent polar-nonpolar phase transition of displacive character in nanocrystal ensembles. A substantial linear component of the distortion is observed, which is in contrast with theoretical reports predicting a toroidal state.
Related Concept Videos
The Colloidal State
Colloidal precipitates
Molecular Shape and Polarity
Colloids

